The Chimera's Call
by wabbit sox
Summary: Harry is wrongly accused of acting as a spy for Voldemort and locked in Azkaban. But when Harry is released what happens when he can't even remember who Voldemort is! Akzaban story with a twist, conspiracies, and betrayal.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: After the death of his godfather, Harry is wrongly accused of acting as a spy for Voldemort and locked in Azkaban. But when the truth is revealed the wizarding world is introduced to a very, very different Harry Potter.

Warnings: Dumbledore bashing, dark themes, slash, conspiracy, paranoia, and special magical powers! This is not beta read so there might be a few grammer errors, hopefully not spelling because I think I've finally mastered the spell check, lol.

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

June 26th, 1997. Quibbler Headquarters

"Morning, Tom." Robert Henderson yawned as he strode into his cubicle at the Quibbler Headquarters.

"Oh, Morning Rob," The shorter wizard, Thomas Jacobs responded from the cubicle beside him. "Find any new stories?"

"Nah, but I was thinking we could do an article about Harry Potter."

"Why? Damn traitor's been in Azkaban for a year," Tom yawned. "What about that chimera they found outside London? That'll freak people out."

"No, we should do a sort of anniversary for Potter, a year ago on this very day he was thrown into Azkaban and the wizarding world was saved!" Rob announced dramatically, "Can you picture it on the headlines?"

"No!" Tom snorted, he paused for a moment before saying, "Ya know in a way the kid was the savior of the wizarding world, ever since they locked him up there haven't been any attacks by You-Know-Who at all!"

"Do you think he's really gone?" Rob asked.

"I dunno," His shorter friend shrugged. "I really hope so though,

"Whata bout that Sirius Black fellow? We haven't seen him in a while" Rob thought aloud.

"Didn't he die or something?"

"Why don't we say he was sighted in the USA!" Rob exclaimed.

"We can't make something up!"

"Rita does it all the time!"

"Rita's a bitch." Tom growled. "Seriously though, there has been a chimera outbreak, people are spotting them everywhere! Maybe it's a sign!"

"Tom, Chimera's are half baked lions or something, they're pathetic little creatures, what could they possibly be a symbol of!" Rob argued exasperatedly.

"I dunno, maybe of world destruction!" Tom teased.

"Oh! Save me from the chimeras!" Rob chuckled.

"HARRY POTTER IS INNOCENT!" A voice boomed over the magical loud speakers, interrupting the two men's conversation. Gasps, shrieks, and yells erupted from the room of reporters. "I REPEAT HARRY JAMES POTTER WAS PROVED INNOCENT BY THE REAL SPY WHO CAME FOREWARD AND ADMITTED HIS GUILT THIS MORNING."

"This is a joke right?" Tom whispered.

"Innocent! But we….the…." Rob stammered, suddenly a grin bloomed on his face. "Let's get writing! We've got headlines to sell!"

"But, Rob! They threw an innocent kid in Azkaban! That's inhumane!" Tom gasped. "We shouldn't exploit that!"

"Tommy-boy, this is a scandal! And a scandal means big bucks for us! Now hop to it!"

XoXoXo

On the other side of London, Remus Lupin was traveling by Floo to the Ministry of Magic to meet with Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic. He was dressed in muggle jeans, a dark blue long sleeved shirt and a light jacket. Despite it being June, the weather was oddly cold and 50 degrees F. And from what anybody could tell it was only England that was so cold. In Ireland temperatures were high in the nineties.

The werewolf appeared in the Minister's fireplace with a small thump and dusted off his wild golden locks. He hadn't had time to even bush his hair before he left, in fact he'd just tossed on a jacket and jumped into the fire place.

"Dumbledore," Remus greeted coldly. He looked at this old man with loathing ever since he'd single handedly sent Harry to Azkaban. Dumbledore was the one who insisted Harry was a spy. Dumbledore was the one who blackmailed an entire wizarding jury to sentence an innocent fifteen year old boy to hell. "Is it true?" He asked.

In fact the thought that Harry was to be freed was almost too good to be true. In the corrupt wizarding world miracles such as this did not happen often. Dumbledore nodded, "It is."

"I would say you should be ashamed," Remus spat. "But that really wouldn't even begin to cover how you should feel."

"Now, Mr. Lupin, I think we can all act like civilized gentlemen." Fudge stammered.

"Oh and I can't be civilized cause I'm a werewolf right?" Remus snapped. "Take me to Harry, now. I'm sick of the both of you."

"Remus, please clam down, your frustration won't help Harry at all." Dumbledore said soothingly. Remus eyed Dumbledore with a fierce hatred and it shone completely through his brilliant amber eyes, but he sat down right on fudges desk and nodded for the older man to continue. "I am certainly not proud of my actions. I acted rashly and in fear."

Remus had to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying, 'whatever'. Ever since he'd found Sirius again so many memories of his teenage years had came flooding back to him. He found himself feeling and even looking younger after Sirius came back. And ever since Sirius had once again been stolen from him, Remus mourned his passing each day. "I don't want an explanation Albus. I want Harry out of Azkaban and coming home with me."

"I'm afraid Harry will have to return to the Durselys-" Dumbledore started, before Remus coldly cut him off.

"No, Albus. Your not sending him back to that hell. If you really aren't proud of your actions you won't simply move him from one hell to another. He deserves at least a little taste of freedom."

"They are his legal guardians, Remus."

With a few quick steps the werewolf was suddenly standing in front of Dumbledore and hissed angrily in his ear, "I was the one who took care of Sirius, Albus. I saw how bloody fucked up he was. Harry is a fifteen year old child, how do you think shoving him under the same roof as those cruel muggle will make him feel?"

"I understand Remus." Albus sighed. "I suppose Mr. Fudge can make arrangements?"

"For Harry to be living with Mr. Lupin?" Fudge gasped. "Well we do know of Lupin's condition and I don't think it would be…um…humane-"

"I'm taking the wolfsbane potion, Fudge, I'm just as harmless as a dog during the full moon. Harry's knows I'm a werewolf and he's fine with it." Remus snarled.

Fudge nodded quickly. "Arrangements will be made,"

"Now, to Azkaban?" Dumbledore sighed. Remus and Fudge nodded. And the three men flooed to Azkaban prison.

Remus' mind was flooded with joy that Harry would be staying with him, but at the same time he nearly vomited from nervousness. Would Harry really be the same? Of course not the same but…how damaged would the boy be? Remus remembered how long Sirius hadn't been able to sleep, how difficult it was to feed him, how far away Sirius seemed.

Would Harry ever forgive the wizarding world? That was what Remus really wanted to know.

When he emerged from the fireplace in Azkaban prison, Remus shivered violently. He'd never actually been here, when Sirius was incarcerated he didn't have the power of will or emotion to actually visit. It was so cold here. The werewolf yanked his light jacket tightly around his slim body and numbly followed Dumbledore and Fudge through the dark stone prison.

They were in a large room with a desk and a huge shelf behind the desk. On the desk itself was a gigantic book. There was a man sitting at the desk with his feet propped up on it, happily reading a book. He looked up at the party and smiled grimly. "Have you come for Potter, Minister?"

"Yes we have, please mark him out of the book." Fudge said with false authority. The man at the desk flipped through a few pages and then murmured, "Found it, yessir." He scribbled something in the book and suddenly a wand flew out from the shelf behind the desk and floated patiently over the book.

"Take his wand, Remus." Dumbledore instructed. Remus carefully tucked the wand into his jean pocket and looked back at Dumbledore. "Return it to Harry when you are sure he's stable."

Remus wanted to hurt the man for assuming Harry wouldn't be stable, but he was right. Harry would be furious when he was removed from Azkaban. The party moved down the hall and through a huge deadlocked door. Remus kept his eyes on the floor and away from the pathetic souls who inhabited this hell.

"Here he is," The man leading them announced. The four men looked into the cell and saw a lump huddled in the corner. Remus spotted Harry's glasses torn violently up in the other corner of the cell.

"His glasses…" The werewolf murmured aloud.

"Yeah, kid tore 'em up a few weeks after he got here. He tried to kill 'emself. He's still got some nasty scars on his wrists," The man said pitifully. "He hid the glass all over the place, we couldn't find it all, I betcha he's still got some hidden in there."

Remus' eyes widened and he couldn't help but call, "Harry!"

The bundle moved a little bit, but not much. The man leading them produced a key and slid open the bars that separated Remus from Harry. The werewolf wanted to run in and huge the boy. "Harry? It's Remus…" The blonde called nervously.

Suddenly the bundle moved, it came closer to the door. It settled in front of the door and Remus knelt down. He could feel Fudge's fear of the boy resonating against his back. Remus swallowed his fear and swung back the blanket over the boys' face and gasped.

Large dazzling green eyes peered calmly back at him. The eyes were so much more green the Lily's. Lily's eyes were a light sea foam green, but Harry's were as dark as the leaves deep in the forest. They glimmered brilliantly even in the dim light of Azkaban. Even as calm and serene as those eyes looked there was still that dancing green flame inside them, there was still that sparkle. It was the same sparkle that Sirius had.

His lips were pale and chapped and small and as perfect as a rose bud and opened in a shallow O. His cheeks were hollow and sunken, his skin was so pale that it looked grey in this light. But at the same time there was a sparkle there, a pale glimmer on his skin, Remus could hardly identify what color the glimmer was, but it was there. Somehow, Harry was shimmering.

Harry's untamable black hair spilled around him on the floor, it was an uncut shaggy mess, just like Sirius' only Harry's was longer. His hair seemed to shine as well. It wasn't dull and flat like Sirius' had been. It only enforced the theory that Harry was shimmered.

"Harry?" Remus whispered. "It's me…Remus."

Harry cocked his head to the side and peered into Remus' own amber eyes. "Who are you?"

"Remus…don't you remember?"

"Moony?"

Remus couldn't keep the gracious smile off his face, "Right, Harry, right…" "But…where are we? How'd I get here…" Harry trialed off, "Oh well I guess it doesn't matter." He smiled adorably at Remus. "Are you going to take me home?"

The werewolf couldn't bite back his surprise. Harry's smiles were so rare, and even when he did smile it seemed somehow forced, but that smile, was so perfect and so…wonderful, so perfectly Lily. He finally smiled as well. "Yes Harry, I'm going to take you home."

"Oh good…I don't really know, but I feel like I don't really have a home …but it'll be nice to finally have one."

A/N: Aw, ain't Harry cute? I hope the chapter wasn't too confusing, lolls. So if u liked it please review and I'll continue. One word reviews are fine with me, just gimmie some feedback! Thanks a bunch for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

yay! I'm so happy people like it, here's the next chapter.

Remus knelt there starring into the eyes of the boy who lived, in shock and a very warped sense of joy. Harry's smiles were so rare and even when he did grace the world with one, they were often tainted by the cynicism the young boy had acquired. Few people survived an encounter with the dark lord, and even fewer were systematically targeted by Voldemort on a yearly basis.

But now Harry sat in front of him in Azkaban prison, looking completely content. It was as if this was some alternate version of his Harry. "…Can you see without your glasses?" Remus finally asked.

Harry nodded. "Mm-Hm, I used to need them…but now, I don't." He shrugged. The boy looked up at Dumbledore with that same quizzical smile and suddenly his emerald eyes widened.

Images danced through his mind, a white bird splattered red, clothes burning, somebody crying and screaming, the fire burning higher and higher. The scent of smoke was burning his eyes and stinging his nose as he was shoved nearer and nearer to the fire. And then he saw a picture of a happy couple being eaten by the flames. An old man with twinkling eyes watching him like a hawk. Somebody screaming, his forehead burning, and suddenly Harry cried out.

"Harry!" Remus gasped, he reached out to grab the frozen boy when suddenly Harry doubled over. Remus clutched Harry's shoulder and carefully dragged him out of the cell.

"They burnt everything," Harry whispered dejectedly. "My photo album…"

"Do you remember what happened?" The blonde werewolf asked gently. He hugged Harry tightly and that dark head rolled down to rest on his shoulder. Harry shook his head and Remus sighed. "Alright, do you wanna go home?"

"That'd be nice…" Harry murmured with a tiny smile. "I won't be a burden will I?"

"'Course not Harry," Remus couldn't help grinning, "But you do smell awful, though." He added teasingly.

Harry grinned at the werewolf before shaking his head. "Yeah well you don't smell too pretty either."

Remus carefully stood and helped Harry to his feet as well. His gray prison robes were too large for him, and the completely hung off his slender frame. The blonde suddenly realized how small Harry was. James had been tall, he towered over Remus' puny height of 5'9 and even Sirius' 5'11 and ¾ wasn't enough to top James' height of 6'1. But Harry, Harry was just barely taller then Remus' shoulder, he didn't look to be more then 5'6.

Of course Harry was now slim almost to the point of being emaciated and that made him look a lot smaller. But Remus could see Harry didn't have James' strong build. Even at a normal weight Harry would be small and slender, the perfect dancer. But even with his small figure Harry still had the same presence and feel of the boy Remus had known before Azkaban.

"Can you walk alright?" Remus asked tenderly.

"I think so…" Harry grinned and he took a tentative step forward. His legs crumpled beneath him so quickly that even with werewolf reflexes, Remus barely caught him.

Remus couldn't help the grin that quickly bloomed on his face.

"I meant to do that!" Harry protested.

As Remus and Harry joked like old college buddies, the three men behind them looked as if they'd never seen anything so strange in their lives.

"I've never seen anybody leave their cell smiling…" The man leading them gasped.

"It appears that Harry's suffered amnesia." Dumbledore said dumbfounded.

"He remembered Lupin's name…he seems to know him." Fudge protested weakly.

"Perhaps the boy who lived has simply blocked out his less savory memories."

After a long pause Fudge finally sputtered, "But…who's going to destroy You-Know-Who!"

"Harry is." The headmaster announced, he sounded as if he could hardly believe it himself.

"He doesn't remember who You-Know-Is!" Fudge murmured.

"Perhaps his memories are only temporarily gone, I'm sure they'll return to him in time."

"B-But," Fudge stammered, he looked at the small figure of Harry, the boy's dazzlingly innocent, wide emerald eyes which caught the light even in the dim dank prison of Azkaban. The minister of magic took in Harry's wild black locks which hung like a cloak around his body all the way to his knees.

Harry looked back at them once and laughed at them. It was one of those purely naïve laughs and possibly the cutest little laugh Fudge had ever heard. When the boy smiled one simply wanted to bow before him and hand him the world and when he wasn't smiling, one would do anything to make him smile again.

"How's anything that….cute, going to vanquish the largest source of evil the world has ever know!" Fudge finally finished.

Dumbledore wanted to say, 'I have honestly no idea,' but he settled for something more cryptic, "You know how puppies are, Minister, sweetest little things they are, but anger them and there's hell to pay."

Dumbledore strode off after Remus and Harry, mind buzzing with ideas. But he couldn't decide what to do. For once, Dumbledore didn't have a plan. He never imagined Harry would loose his memories like this. Harry had always been so strong he didn't actually think Harry's mind even had a breaking point.

But this was like being dunked into a bath of icy water. The only one who could kill Voldemort had no idea who Voldemort even was. Dumbledore shook his head and sighed. Then again, if Harry had remembered everything there was little chance he'd be willing to fight for the Order of the Phoenix anymore. The trauma he'd suffered….the pain…perhaps it was better to let Harry forget. Perhaps Harry's mind would recollect itself and those memories would slowly return…if they didn't…then, well Dumbledore was finally at a loss.

XoXoXo

"Floo right?" Harry asked. He and Remus stood, well Remus stood and Harry clung onto Remus' arm for dear life. The two were in front of the fire place in the large black stone room. Remus was quickly explaining what to do with the green powder sitting next to it.

"Yes, Harry, how'd you know that?" The werewolf asked.

The boy shrugged, "Dunno, it just popped into my mind."

"So do you remember how to use it?" Remus asked.

"You throw it into the fire and say where you want to go," The dark haired boy responded, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "So where do I want to go?"

"Lupin Cottage," Remus grinned.

"Lupin Cottage…that sounds nice." Harry sighed.

"I'll go first," The werewolf instructed. He tossed the green powder into the fire and announced, "Lupin Cottage,"

Harry waited a few moments before giving a last wave to them men behind him, "um…I'll talk to you soon?"

"Yes, Harry, as soon as possible." Dumbledore agreed.

"Alright then, bye." Harry offered them on last smile before disappearing into the flames.

"Albus I do not think that boy is Harry Potter." Fudge finally announced.

"I think what the boy we're seeing is who Harry could've been without all this Voldemort nonsense." Dumbledore shrugged. "After all a human is not completely molded by memories."

"Er…Albus, I know You-Know-Who has risen again and all, but please don't say his name…"

XoXoXo

Harry stepped out of the fire and onto a soft crème colored carpet. It felt absolutely wonderful on his aching bare feet. As soon as his feet touched the carpet Harry's legs started to give away beneath him and he was quickly tumbled to the floor. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around his shoulders and yanked him back up. "Oh, thank you Remus," Harry gasped. "May I sit down?"

"Of course, Harry, for now my house is your house."

"For now?"

"Well until you start school again of course." Remus laughed.

Suddenly the smell of smoke filled Harry's lung again. His eyes burned as the smoke assaulted them. Somebody was screaming and crying, but he couldn't tell who. There was that white bird splattered red again. Remus' gentle voice brought Harry's mind back to Lupin Cottage as quickly as it had left. "What about school?" Harry asked breathlessly.

"Hogwarts…You don't remember it?" Remus sounded vaguely disappointed.

"A lion, a snake, a badger, and a hawk, right?" The boy said in a dazed voice.

"Yeah, that's right, remember how it looked?" He prodded.

"A castle," Harry said, and then he laughed. "Like in the story books, a big castle, it even had a moat! All it needs is a dragon!"

"Where did you read a story book?" Remus inquired. He was still trying to puzzle out exactly what happened to Harry. He wasn't exactly displeased with the bubbly Harry which sat before him. He was starting to see that Harry's mind had blocked out certain memories, certain…traumas he suffered.

"Dudley had some…" Harry mused. "I used to snatch them away and read them in the cupboard…" The boy paused and then thought for a moment. "Did I just say Dudley?"

Remus nodded. "Do you remember him?"

"No…funny a moment ago I thought I did…but now I guess I don't." Harry shrugged. He seemed very bemused by the entire situation. Remus was glad. The last thing he wanted was Harry stressing himself over his lost memories. They'd all come back in time. At least Remus hope they would…but if they didn't. The werewolf shoved that thought from his mind, he'd deal with it when the time came.

"Are you hungry? I think I've got some pizza in the fridge." Remus jerked his head towards his little kitchen. Harry's face bloomed into a grin and he nodded enthusiastically. "Do you want to watch Tv?"

Harry's eyes widened, "You're a wizard, why do you have a tv?"

"You remember I'm a wizard huh?" Remus inquired.

Harry nodded and explained sheepishly. "I don't know why…but it popped up next to your name in my head."

Remus smiled and handed Harry the remote. The boy switched on the small tv with no problems. Remus sighed and walked into the kitchen. He was completely confused by Harry. He was still trying to get a grasp on what happened to him. Did Azkaban force him to forget? Or was it his friends betraying him. Remus idly pondered his and Harry's situation as he heated up a few slices of pizza.

Sirius certainly hadn't been so happy when he got out of Azkaban. Remus thought back to Sirius and even a year later he felt his eyes welling up. His best friend and his lover, he thought back to how he'd fallen through the veil. Remus once again wondered if Sirius was actually dead and not just floating behind the veil, waiting for somebody to reach in and pull him out.

The blonde shook his head to clear that thought and was brought back to reality as the microwave beeped. He brought the plates out and set one before Harry. The boy grinned and attacked the pizza. "Harry don't eat too much or you'll be sick," Remus laughed as Harry devoured his pizza as well.

"I'm so hungry!" Harry exclaimed. "It feels like it's been so long since I've eaten!"

"You haven't had proper food in a year." Remus sighed.

"Why?"

"Because you were in Azkaban."

Harry shuddered at that name. He didn't understand exactly what it meant but it made him frightened never the less. His mind fell back into the place. Suddenly all he could feel was darkness and emptiness. He was so cold, so bone numbingly cold. Dried blood splattered the walls and his robes. Images once again flashed through his mind, glasses being torn up, glass slicing through his wrists, nails scratching the walls. Somebody was screaming and crying again.

"Harry!" Remus shouted.

The boy's green eyes were fixed in horror at his hands. He was shivering and whimpering softly. Tears started to spill form the corners of those large emerald eyes. Remus grabbed Harry's hands and held them tightly as Harry tried to twist away, gasping as if something was stinging him.

"Come back Harry, your not there anymore, you're here with me…" Remus said soothingly.

"R-Remus?" Harry whispered. "I'm sorry I don't know what happened…I was just so…cold."

"I'm sorry for bringing that place up," Remus apologized. "Would you like to go to bed?"

Harry nodded. "I'm so tired."

The werewolf picked Harry up and carried him to his bedroom. He laid the slim boy on his bed and covered him up tightly. He turned to leave when a sharp cry brought him back to the room. Harry was twitching slightly in his sleep, brows furrowed in pain. Remus sat down at the edge of the bed and carefully picked up the sleeping boys hands.

They were scratched and the nails were bent and broken. But what startled the werewolf the most were the cuffs of red scar tissue that encircled those dangerously slim wrists. He remembered that man talking about suicide, but it hadn't registered. Harry tried to kill himself.

Remus sighed and gently placed Harry's slender hands on the bed and watched the boy curl around a pillow. He pulled Harry's hair back from his face and smiled sadly. He was going to need a bath and a haircut.

XoXoXo

Remus being a very late sleeper awoke around noon the next morning. He yawned and squinted at the rays of sunlight piercing his vision. The werewolf shimmied under his blanket and attempted to roll away from the sun. Unfortunately he forgot he wasn't one his bed anymore, but on the couch. When Remus felt that the soft couch was no longer cushioning his body he realized that little fact.

He tumbled to the floor in a heap of blankets and pillows. Remus sighed and untangled himself from the mess of bedding. He stood, stretched, and then walked groggily into his kitchenette which was only separated from his living room by the tiles in the floor instead of the soft carpet. He looked at the microwave, which according to him was the muggles greatest invention along with the fridge and television, and found it was already noon.

The sunlight filtered through the large window in the kitchen, partially blinding Remus. The werewolf quickly checked on Harry to find the boy sleeping peacefully. With a smile he darted back to the kitchen and fixed a huge breakfast for him and Harry.

The boy stumbled out of Remus' bedroom with a loud yawn. Remus quickly looked over to see Harry walking shakily over to the couch. He fell down on it beside Remus and grinned. "Morning,"

"Morning, sleeping beauty, it's almost two."

"I haven't slept that well in ages! And it was so warm!" Harry gushed. "But Remus where did you sleep?"

"Couch," The blonde yawned. He laughed at Harry's expression of horror, "it's no problem Harry, and the couch is very comfortable."

"But…I'm your guest, I can't let you sleep on the couch! See I am a burden." Harry's tone changed so quickly from dejected to happy, to outraged, and back to that same dejected voice. Remus was amazed at how Harry flew through moods and wondered suddenly if Harry had been like this before Azkaban. He certainly hadn't voiced these moods…but then again Harry was always one to keep things inside.

"You're not a burden," Remus said firmly. This guilt complex was always a problem for Harry. Apparently Harry still had it. "I'm so happy to have you here and I'd still be happy if it meant sleeping in the sink."

"Are you sure…I don't mind the couch-"

"I mind you sleeping on the couch," Remus interrupted him, he shoved a plate of breakfast food in Harry' lap and commanded, "Eat."

Harry looked more then happy to obey and attacked it as Remus flipped through the channels. After he finished eating Harry seemed completely content to sit there and watch tv the rest of the day. Remus on the other hand was already wondering how to deal with Harry. The boy needed a bath and a hair cut today, no doubt. But eventually he'd need to go outside, new clothes, and Remus had to see if Harry still remembered how to do magic. Of course there was still getting to how much Harry remembered of his life.

"Hey Harry, you still smell," Remus chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I was wondering if I could take a bath or something." Harry laughed.

"I don't think I'd let you stay in the house if you didn't bathe." Remus grinned. He led Harry to the bathroom. The bathroom was decorated in shades of blue, the bathtub was even blue, much to Harry's delight. The bathtub itself was a classic affair, it even had those little golden feet. Remus showed Harry which knob was hot and which was cold and showed Harry the Shampoo and conditioner.

"Jez, Remus it's not like I can't clean myself," Harry chuckled.

"Hang on a minute and let me get you some clothes and we can burn that ugly robe." Remus laughed. He quickly fetched Harry a pair of dark green cotton pajamas and a pair of Remus' smallest boxers. "Put these on after your done and don't let that thing leave the bathroom!"

"For information I'm very attached to this robe," Harry teased, even though he was happy to be rid of it. It reminded him of that cold place. He shut the door and quickly stripped out of the robe.

Harry waited patiently for the tub to fill before sighing at it. The water was steaming and it was as blue as the sea. The thin boy slipped into the water with a small gasp and settled himself comfortably in the tub. He sighed in pure delight and watched the steam rise from the water.

His mass of hair pooled around him in the water and Harry laughed. It would be completely impossible to wash. But he wasn't willing to leave the warm water anytime soon. "What do I remember?" Harry asked himself softly. He remembered Remus that was for sure. A girl named Tonks, she was nice…some crazy guy with one eye. But he didn't remember anybody his own age.

Harry thought about the castle. It had a moat…and there was a train. An image of a stone castle with little torches glimmering in the darkness flashed into his mind. Harry shut his eyes and thought more about that place. He felt an attachment to that place, an attachment built of hope and fear, of suffering and nostalgia. That castle felt a little bit like a home.

"Home," The boy wondered aloud. "Do I have a home? I feel like I don't belong anywhere…" He curled up into a little ball in the water and shivered a bit. He turned on the hot water again and let himself drift into a peaceful meditative state. When he saw the water pushing the edge of the tub he switched it off again.

The shampoo was eyeing him and Harry finally sighed. He gathered up all his hair and twisted it into a long, thick rope. He thought a moment and then picked up the shampoo bottle and squirted it all along the rope and generously on his scalp. The boy started to work it through his hair, using more and more shampoo.

After about fifteen minutes of struggle Harry flicked on the bathtub drain and dunked his entire head underwater. It felt so good! He switched on the hot water again and let the soapy dirty water drain out of the tub along.

The tub was once again filled with warm water and Harry's hair was now squeaky clean. However Remus was completely out of shampoo. Sitting on the floor next to the tub was another bottle, this one full of bubbles. A wicked smirk bloomed on Harry's face as he poured the entire bottle into the water.

Bubbles burst up everywhere, sending the dark haired boy into fits of laughter.

XoXoXo

Over two ours later a much cleaner Harry Potter emerged from the bathroom to eat again. "Enjoy your bath?" Remus asked with a smirk.

"Oh yes it was wonderful, but Remus your going to need some more shampoo," Harry said sheepishly, he toyed with a strand of his long black hair for a moment before grinning.

"Alright, but first we need to give you a hair cut."

"Sounds good."

The duo slipped into the bathroom and Harry positioned himself in front of the mirror, "Don't cut too much off, I kinda like it." The dark haired boy said fondly.

Remus laughed and began to snip at the mass of hair. "Harry, eventually we will need to go over what you remember and what you don't."

"So I really did loose my memory?" Harry sighed.

"Well do you feel like you did?"

"I-It's-There's things I remember, like you and I remember some images of people…and then I remember how to take a bath, and eat, and I know my name…it just feels like I remember a few little pieces here and there." The boy confessed.

"Tell me about Gryffindor."

"Is that a person?" Harry asked completely clueless.

Remus thought silently for a moment before asking, "What about Slytherin?" He'd been informed that Harry was almost placed in Slytherin, and he wondered which house was truly where Harry belonged. He couldn't go back to Gryffindor, not after what his house mates did to him.

"The snake," Harry sighed, "Green and Silver…dungeons, and a snake."

"That's good, Harry." Remus encouraged gently. "Tell me something else."

"Draco Malfoy…" the boy trialed off, "He…I know his name, but that's it…"

"It's alright, Harry, don't push yourself." Remus said gently. "Now look at your new hair."

Harry examined himself in the mirror for a few moments before smiling. His hair now hung down to his shoulder blades in tight wild waves. It was still a shaggy mess, but at least now it wasn't unmanageable. "It's good."

"I'm glad you like it, Prince Potter." Remus joked sarcastically.

"Well…the bangs are a little long," Harry sighed mockingly, "But I suppose it'll have to do."

"I'm going to watch tv, do you want to join me?" The werewolf asked.

"Yeah that sounds good, can I have dinner now? I'm really hungry." Harry yawned.

"Sure Harry."

XoXoXo

For the next week Harry milled about Remus' house, mostly eating, sleeping, and bathing. He was simply getting used to the simple pleasures in life. Remus was content to let Harry do that for the rest of the summer, but He was going back to school in September.

Remus was going to have to re-instruct Harry on magic and see what the boy did and didn't remember about it. It was also time to go over Harry's memories and fill him in on what he didn't remember. Another problem that weighed on Remus' mind was Harry's sleep patterns. It seemed that Harry was a very restless sleeper. Remus didn't know if Harry normally slept so poorly or if it was just an effect of Azkaban, but the boy was going to need a dreamless sleep potion.

On the same lines as dreamless sleep potion, Remus also needed to talk to Severus about the wolfsbane potion. The werewolf sighed and looked over at the boy who'd fallen asleep on the couch beside him. It was going to be an interesting July for Harry.

A/N: Yes I know it was a boring chapter, but bear with me. Next one will be more interesting. I'm going to be in volley ball camp till Tuesday so you'll get ur update by Wednesday. Have a good weekend all, and don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hi world, sorry it took so long to update, just got back from VB camp. Thank u all so much for reviewing, it makes me a very, very happy llama….cept I'm not a llama….but I can still pretend. Yeah, in this chapter Harry is introduced to Lucius and Sevvy. If you are grossly offended by either of them you won't like the story much cause they will play an important role in it. But pwease give them a chance, they're not that bad.

July 4th, 1997, Lupin Cottage

Harry James Potter was happily sprawled on Remus' soft couch, catching up on his Muggle literature. He was still wearing Remus' pajamas, though a different pair, and his hair was still a wild mess, only now much longer as it spilled out around him on the couch.

The teen's noise twitched suddenly and a pair of brilliant emerald eyes shifted from page 192 of _Pride and Prejudice_ to the fire place just to the left of the television. A face hung in it, the face of a pale man with lank greasy hair and dark, murky green eyes. "Remus, there's a face in the fireplace!" Harry called as if it was a completely normal phenomina.

"Who is it?" Remus asked from the kitchen.

Harry looked back at the face in the fire place. A few images of a dungeon and colored liquids simmering swam through his mind, but not a name. He thought a moment before finally shrugging. "Some greasy guy…"

"Ah, Afternoon Severus," Remus sighed.

"You do realize there's a girl on your couch." The man from the fire place growled. He looked distastefully at Harry and then did a double take. His eyes nearly bulged from their sockets, "P-P-Potter?"

Harry cocked his head at the man and in a very innocent voice responded, "How do you know my name?"

"Don't be stupid, boy." He snapped.

"Um…I don't think I'm being stupid, really, who are you?" Harry asked blankly.

The greasy man's eyes snapped back to Remus angrily. "Is this some sort of prank, Lupin!"

"No, Severus. I thought Dumbledore explained to you." The werewolf growled. He plopped down on the end couch and propped his feet on the coffee table. "Harry doesn't remember….anything."

For the second time in five minutes Snape's eyes bulged dangerously out of his head and his mouth dropped into a large O. "Doesn't remember?"

"He remembers a few things…a little bit here and there." Remus shrugged.

"So, the boy who lived doesn't even know who he is?" Snape cackled. "Oh that's rich."

"Don't be a bloody arse," Remus snapped. "At least properly introduce yourself."

"Why should I?" Snape sneered. "I could never stand the little bugger, maybe now he can learn a little common curtsey."

Harry looked completely crestfallen. "You don't like me?"

"I can't stand you!"

"But…I didn't do anything to you!" The boy argued.

The man in the fire place opened his mouth to speak and then looked back at Harry's sad little face. He certainly didn't look the same as he did only a year ago. Harry looked older in some way, despite his large eyes and delicate mouth, he looked like he knew something nobody else did. But he looked so…upset that Snape didn't like him.

"Besides, the only reason you don't like me is because of my dad!" Harry protested, completely shattering Snape's mental chain of insults.

Suddenly the two adults looked at Harry as if lobsters were suddenly crawling out of his noise. Harry looked back and forth between the two of them and then sighed. "I said something didn't I?"

"Do you remember your dad?" Remus asked slowly.

Harry shrugged and looked off into space, "I just remember that he never liked me, even from the start cause of my dad…and I just thought of it."

"Well I don't like you." Snape growled.

"You don't even know me, it's not fair to base your personal opinion of me off somebody who I'm not." Harry argued lightly.

The old Harry would've been defensively furious by now. But this new Harry was simply using logic, pure logic. And for once Snape couldn't argue with Harry. The boy didn't seem upset or angry, just thoughtful. "I don't recognize you now." Snape admitted. He didn't know if it was the crestfallen look in those big eyes or the words spilling out of Harry's mouth, but Snape realized that something was different about him.

A smile bloomed on the boy's face, completely catching Snape off guard. "Good, then you can decide whether you like the real me or not."

The potions master growled wordlessly but grudgingly nodded. Remus started to chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"I never thought I'd see the day when you would agree with Harry Potter."

"I don't agree…" Snape trialed off, knowing he was completely with the boy. "Are you sure that's Harry Potter?"

Remus nodded.

"…I swear he's shrunk." Snape commented. "And how'd his hair get so long? He was only in Azkaban for a year."

"I just wanted it to grow…so then I wouldn't be so cold…"Harry murmured, the tiniest shiver running down his spine.

"How…How did you do a growing charm without a wand?" Snape gasped.

Remus choked and looked back at Harry with wide eyes, "You mean a guard didn't do the charm for you!" Snape looked questioningly at Remus who added dismissively said, "Sirius told me the guards used growing charms on the inmates hair during the winter."

"No, I was just really, really cold." The dark haired boy shrugged.

"He did wand-less magic," Remus stuttered.

"So?" Snape snapped, "Lot's of wizards do it when they're very desperate."

"They have charms on those cells so wizards can't perform magic," Remus growled in return.

Snape shook his head, "When wizards get very desperate, disturbing things happen, Remus. It's a natural, albeit rare, phenomena for wizards." He glanced quickly back at Harry before finishing. "I'm sure it was nothing too unusual."

Remus sat back on the couch, not entirely convince, but honestly he didn't want to worry about Harry's many abnormalities at one time. Too much needed to be done already. "Fine, but Severus why did you call?"

"I needed to confirm the wolfsbane potion." Snape shrugged.

"Oh, Severus that reminds me, I need a dreamless sleep potion for Harry."

"I don't need anything, Remus!" Harry protested. "It's no big deal, I don't want to make Sev do more work."

"Sev?" Snape asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well Severus is a little long," Harry shrugged. "You don't mind if I address you by your first name do you?" he asked quickly. Those big emerald eyes regarded Snape with a mixture of nervousness and companionship.

"No…" The potions master sighed. "I don't mind."

"I'm glad, does that mean you like me?" Harry asked in an almost childlike way.

"No…Yes…Maybe, It doesn't matter!" A very flustered Snape finally snapped out. "I'll make the dreamless sleep potion for him."

"Are you sure it's not too much trouble?" The teen insisted.

"It's a fairly simple potion, I think even you could brew it." Snape chuckled.

"Would you teach me so I can do it myself?" Harry asked. Snape looked once again completely shocked. "I've been flipping through some of Remus' old potion texts and potions looks kind of interesting."

"There is no way that boy is Harry Potter." Snape sighed.

"Sev, get off the floo! I need to go shopping!" A voice shouted on Snape's end of the fire.

"Why don't you get your lazy arse up and apparate!" Snape yelled back at the voice.

"Was that Malfoy?" Remus growled. "Your calling us from Malfoy manner, aren't you!"

"I've been here all summer." Snape shrugged.

"Lucius is a deatheater! He could come though and kill Harry!" The werewolf snarled. He moved to cut off the fire when Snape interjected quickly,

"Honestly, Lupin, I have more tact then that," A blonde voice purred. Suddenly another face was looking at Remus though the fire, a blonde with stone cold grey eyes that held a touch of amusement.

"Who's the girl?" Lucius asked. "She's cute."

"That would be Harry." Remus growled. "Somebody had better explain what's going on, Severus."

"Lucius is negotiating with Dumbledore."

"…And what exactly does that entail?"

"It means I don't think dark wizardry is the best course of action for either me or my family." The blonde death eater responded.

"Since when have you ever given a damn about your family?" The amber eyed man shot back.

"Things are getting to close for comfort, the noose is tightening and I want out." Lucius snapped.

"So you're backing out because your not willing to deal with the consequences of serving the most sadistic bastard in England." Remus growled with a cruel smirk. "Coward."

"At least I'm a living, rich coward…and I'm not a rat." Lucius added, both he and Remus knew exactly which rat Malfoy was referring too.

"I still don't want him near Harry." The werewolf snapped.

"You can trust me, Remus, I don't think I ever really had anything against the boy." The grey eyed man glanced at Harry. "Doesn't look a thing like James, though...And didn't he have glasses?"

"I don't need them anymore," Harry shrugged. "And by the way, stop talking about me like I'm not here, I'm not as dumb as I am pretty you know." That took all three of them by surprise and the teen laughed. "But, uh…Malfoy…" He sighed, "I know that name."

"What's wrong with him? Did he bump his head?" Lucius asked.

"He lost his memory." Snape explained. "Though he does remember a few things."  
Suddenly images of a black diary slammed into Harry's mind, a red headed girl lying on the ground, a boy with eyes that glimmered as red as coal, and a giant snake. Something stabbing into his arm, the world becoming hazy…

"Harry!" Remus yelled.

"Nuh?" The boy murmured, shaking his head to clear the images. "The basilisk!" Harry gasped. "You-Ginny…" Once again he saw the fire, smoke rising in his lung, eyes burning, people laughing, somebody was screaming and sobbing, and flame red hair cruelly laughing and mocking him.

"Harry!" somebody screamed.

"Mm, Remus?" He whispered. The teen opened his eyes to see Remus kneeling before him. His gaze switched back to the fire to see Lucius and Sev gazing worriedly at him. "Did I have a flashback again?"

The werewolf nodded, "Are you alright?"  
"Fine," Harry said with a small smile. He looked down at his left arm and suddenly grabbed at the sleeve. The teen groped his arm for a moment before he finally found the scar he was looking for. The white starburst was located right in the crook of his elbow, it wasn't raised anymore, but it was still discolored. "The basilisk…"

"You remember that?"

Harry shook his head. "Forget it, I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Harry it's good that your memories' are coming back, you shouldn't be sorry for talking about them," Remus chided gently.

The boy who lived glanced back at Lucius almost nervously before his now trademark smile bloomed on his face, "Hi…Your name's Lucius right?" The blonde in the fireplace nodded. "Oh, it's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine," Lucius responded, manners completely ingrained in his system. "So you don't remember me or the death eaters."

Harry gave a little shake at the mention of the death eaters but smiled all the same, "Not really."

XoXoXo

"Hey Remus…the full moon's in a two weeks right?" Harry yawned.

"Right," Remus agreed from behind his newspaper.

"So….um….Do you want me in the house when you transform?" The teen asked.

The werewolf's head sot up and he looked back at Harry. "Harry, how did you know that?"

"Cause…You're a werewolf."

Remus sighed and rested his head on the couch. After his conversation with Severus the day before thoughts had been running through his troubled mind. Like what did Harry remember, how did Harry perform wandless magic at Azkaban, could Harry even perform magic anymore? "You know there's a nice little town a few blocks from here,"

"You want me to go clubbing?" Harry laughed, cocking his head a little bit in question.

"No, but you do need to get out. A sixteen year old shouldn't be caged in a house." The blonde chuckled.

"I won't be sixteen till the thirty-first." The boy sharing the couch with him protested. "Besides, I'm happy in the house."

"You still need clothes, Harry."

"…Don't wizards wear robes?"

"That's for another time." Remus sighed.

And so the boy who lived set off on another adventure, muggle clothes shopping. But little did Harry know that somebody was following him, and snapping pictures of him. And the boy who lived also didn't notice that this somebody had followed him home to Lupin Cottage.

XoXoXo

When Remus Lupin woke up the next morning it was not to bright sunny rays, it was to a loud pounding on his door and screaming from outside. Not being a morning person Remus considered just yelling for whoever was at the door to piss off, but since the pounding was so loud, he decided to punch whoever was at the door and then tell them to piss off.

But when he finally stumbled to the door and opened it, it was not a single person there. Outside his tiny cottage was a plethora of wizards, holding pads and papers, snapping pictures, screaming out questions.

His amber eyes flew open and he quickly stumbled back into the house and slammed the door shut. "Right, I'm just dreaming." He told himself. Remus pinched his arm quickly and shook his head with a renewed vigor. He flung open the door again and once again was faced with every sane wizards nightmare…the hounding press of the wizarding world.

"Where's Harry!"

"Why isn't he wearing his glasses?"

"Did we interrupt you two?"

"Why isn't he with his relatives!"

"Is this legal!"

"Show us Harry!"

Remus slammed the door shut and ran back to his bedroom to find Harry sound asleep. He looked to the window and nearly shrieked. Photographers were at the window, snapping pictures of Harry…in Remus' bed. "Harry wake up!" Remus shouted. He dashed to the window and drew the shades.

"Wha?" Harry moaned, he opened his eyes and saw the window he normally did when he awoke, but this time somebody was outside the window, snapping pictures of him. "Holy shit!" He gasped. The teen darted out of bed and closed the curtains before looking back at Remus who was standing by the other window panting.

"They've found you." Remus growled.

"The press!"

"Expect Rita Skeeter to have written an article by tomorrow morning." The blonde sighed.

"Who?"

"Never mind, just…don't go outside, and whatever you do, don't say anything to them!"

"So we just wait for them to go away?"

"That's the plan."

The reporters finally dispersed at dusk and both Harry and Remus breathed a sigh of relief. That night the two slept peacefully, completely unaware of the catastrophe that tomorrow would bring.

"Lupin! Wake up!" Somebody snarled.

"Fuck off!" The werewolf groaned, rolling over into the couch.

That somebody was swatting him with a newspaper. A pair of amber eyes glanced up to see Lucius Malfoy standing over him, holding a newspaper. "This is not the way to handle reports, Lupin!"

"Dun care, lemmie sleep!"

Stone grey eyes narrowed and the icy blonde growled, "Fine, then I'll read aloud, ahem, HARRY POTTER HAS BEEN LOCATED… IN BED WITH A WEREWOLF!"

That got Remus' attention, "WHAT!" He fell off the couch in shock and from the floor snatched the news paper out of Lucius' hands. On the front was a gigantic picture of Harry sleeping his bed with a slumbering Remus next to him. "That never happened!"

"They probably got a picture of you sleeping on the couch and edited it onto your bed with Harry." Lucius snapped. "Oh and that's only one of the many papers with lovely images of you two."

"That's disgusting!" Remus snarled. "I would never!"

"Yeah well the press doesn't care, Harry's face is plastered everywhere, the secrets out." The ex-slytherin muttered plopping onto Remus' couch. The werewolf was too worried about what he was going to do to even think of asking Lucius how he'd gotten into the house.

"Well this is just great." Remus finally groaned. "Harry can't even leave the house now."

"He could go to Hogwarts," Malfoy suggested.

"I don't want him to have to go back there," The werewolf murmured. "I want him to have as much time to recover from what they did to him as possible."

Suddenly an enraged scream erupted from the bedroom and a sleep mused Harry stormed out. "Christ, Remus! This is ridiculous! When the fuck will they go away!" He hissed. Then he caught sight of Lucius and smiled at him, "Morning, Lucius."

"Morning Harry." The ex-slytherin sighed. "Sleep well?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oh fabulously! The only way to wake up in the morning is to freaks taking my picture!" Harry growled, the sarcasm and disgust in his voice was palpable.

Remus wordlessly handed Harry the paper. The two men waited for Harry to yell, throw the paper, or rip it up. But the teen did neither. Instead he stormed right to the door and flung it open.

"LISTEN UP FREAKS," He bellowed over all their screaming. Every reporter fell silent. "I SWEAR TO GOD IF I HAVE TO WAKE UP ONE MORE MORNING WITH PEOPLE SCREAMING AT THE DOOR AND TAKING PICTURES OF ME I'M GOING TO LOOSE IT!"

"Whose god?" one called meekly. Harry threw with paper with all his might at the offending reporter.

He paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "IF YOU FREAKS WANNA SEE PRETTY BOYS IN BED THEN CHECK THE INTERENT! BUT THIS IS DISGUSTING! DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO THEN WRITE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE! DON'T YOU HAVE SOMETHING INTERESTING TO SAY!"

"What's the internet?"

"Harry, keep talking! This is fascinating!"

"He's manic! He's manic!"

Harry turned bright red with anger and took another huge gulp of air, "AND ANOTHER THING-" He was cut off with Lucius suddenly stepped in front of him and gave a little bow to the reporters.

"That's all for today," Lucius said almost graciously and slammed the door shut. The man whirled and glared at Harry. "Not the best way to handle the press."

A pair of green eyes glared sullenly at Lucius. "Somebody needs to tell them to shove off."

"Many people have, and those stupid reporters are more stubborn then you." Lucius growled. "Now come on, you're leaving."

"Why?" Harry hissed.

"Because, they'll keep coming back till you go to Hogwarts." Malfoy sighed. "And tomorrow they'll have us in a nice little three way."

Harry glared hatefully back at the door, "That's sick."

"Allow me to introduce you to the perversion of the press," Lucius said sarcastically. He glanced around the house before sighing "The wards on this place aren't very strong so if the Dark Lord decided to storm in, nobody could stop him."

"Dark Lord?" Harry asked blankly.

Lucius shot an exasperated glanced at Remus, "He doesn't know about You-know-who."

"I was going to tell him," The werewolf growled defensively. He sighed and rested his head on the back of the couch. "I just wish he didn't have to get involved in all that Voldemort business again."

Harry cleared his throat loudly and both men glanced back at the teen. Lucius finally sighed, "Come on, Harry. We're going to Malfoy manner, you can't stay here. Not with the press swarming around."

"But Remus-"

"Will be following you," Remus interrupted. "I refuse to stay here and be attacked by news papers."

"Fine," Lucius agreed.

"Oh and Lucius, if anything happens to Harry I will personally skin you." The werewolf added.

"No worries, Remus. I think the kid's actually starting to grow on me."

A/N: Yay, finished the chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: yay reviews! To answer a few questions, in no particular order as I am lazy, yes there will be slash, because I love slashy slashy slashy slash. Harry likes….well since I can't really say here cause that'll ruin the suspense, but Harry's new love interest will be introduced in this chapter. Harry will also meet with Dumbledore in this chapter as well. So read on people!

July 6th, 1997 Malfoy Manner

Harry Potter, known far and wide as the boy who lived, was gapping vacantly at the room which he had suddenly found himself in. Everything was made from dark sleek wood and walls were all covered in books. It was more books then Harry could ever even imagine being in one place. Elegant couches with red velvet cushions and coffee tables with smooth finishes decorated the room. "Wow."

"This is only the library, Harry, come on." Lucius urged. The blonde massaged the back of his neck with one hand, while the other gestured to Harry to follow him. Mentally he was making a check list of all he needed to do for Harry and himself. Harry would need to be educated on the Dark Lord. There was no way the boy who lived could kill Voldemort if he didn't even know who Voldemort was. "Harry, if you don't mind my asking what do you remember?"

Lucius led them out of the library and into a long hall of white marble. Harry hardly caught what Lucius said because he was so busy gasping and awing at the marvels around him but managed to say, "Not that much, a lot of faces basically."

"Do you remember your Aunt and Uncle?" Lucius questioned.

"I have an Aunt?"

The blonde sighed and turned up a flight of stairs. "You're going to stay on the top floor with Draco," He cursed and smacked his forehead. "Damn, what am I going to tell Draco!"

"Draco…he's in Slytherin right?" Harry asked.

Lucius whirled to face the teen behind him, "You remember Draco?"

"Yeah, he looks like you, except his eyes are blue." The Gryffindor explained, "And he's…I don't think we liked each other very much."

"No, no you didn't." Lucius sighed. "You didn't like me much either."

"Why not?" The green eyes were so huge and innocent that Lucius once again wondered if this was really Harry.

"I'm a death eater, as I remember you didn't agree with our philosophy."

The teen thought for a moment before shrugging. "You have time to fill me in on that philosophy later, as of now I'm starving!"

Lucius smiled slightly, it was nice to be in the company of somebody so open. It was relaxing to know that around Harry he didn't have any image to maintain. "Here we are," He opened a heavy wooden door and Harry breathed in sharply.

The room was, as most of the manner, outfitted in shades of green and silver, with some blue tossed in for good measure. The carpet was thick and dark forest green, the walls were the color of freshly whipped cream. The gigantic bed in the middle was

dressed with mounds of pillows and a green comforter decorated with silver moon and stars. On the wall was a black dresser and an adjoining door led to a bathroom.

"This is Draco's old room, we don't really use it much, well Blaise does, but other then that, nobody but the house elves have touched it." Lucius explained.

"It's so big!" Harry gasped. "Is it really for me?"

"Well of course, you are our guest." The blonde sighed. "Since we can't have you running around in pajamas you can borrow some of Draco's old clothes for the time being."

Harry looked down at himself and blushed, realizing he was still in his pajamas, "I can't believe I yelled at the reporters in my pajamas."

Lucius cracked a grin and shrugged, "Well now the entire wizarding world will know what kind of pajamas you wear."

The teen blushed even redder and asked sheepishly, "Hey Lucius, um…Draco's old clothes aren't those froofy robes right? I really don't like them."

"There should be some muggle clothes too," The older man chuckled. "You can find your way back to the library?" Harry nodded. "Excellent, then go down whenever your ready." He slipped out of the room and shut the door with a soft click.

When he was sure Lucius wasn't at the door Harry ran to the bed and leapt onto it. He giggled in delight and nuzzled all the pillows like a cat on cat nip. When he finally got over the gigantic bed, Harry ran to the window and looked out at a huge garden. "Wow." He gasped again.

Harry sighed in content and imagined walking through that garden. Suddenly A sense of foreboding slammed into him like a wall. Harry sneezed violently and tumbled back onto the floor, gasping and rubbing his eyes. "What the hell," He growled. The teen sniffed and looked back out the window. There was nothing odd in the garden. Harry glanced nervously around the room.

Every nerve in Harry's body screamed to grab a weapon and fight, but Harry didn't have any weapons. The teen dared one last look out the window and growled low in his throat. Something was coming, he could feel it.

The dark haired teen quickly changed into a pair of muggle jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. The clothes were the perfect size for him. The teen glanced around the room again, before quickly leaving. He darted down the white marble stairs and into the long white hall. Harry followed it until he reached the double doors to the library when he stopped short.

"Why is Snape here?" An unfamiliar voice snapped.

Harry carefully crept up to the door the library and found that one door was closed and the other hastily swung shut. He flattened himself against the closed door and peered into the room. A tall mean wearing one of those silly robes was standing in front of Lucius, who was plopped on a couch, feet propped on the coffee table. Snape was on the couch next to Lucius, disinterestedly reading a potions book.

Despite the height difference, Harry could easily tell that Lucius was completely in charge of the situation.

"He's staying here for the summer," Lucius smirked easily. "What do you want McNair?"

_McNair? _Harry's mind repeated. Images of a huge animal with wings and talons flashed though Harry's mind. The pumpkin patch, and a huge axe. The pebble hitting his head. As quickly as the images had come they left Harry's mind, leaving him drained and tired.

"I've come from the forest, The Dark Lord ordered me to inform you of our success," the last word was practically spat with disgust. "The mating ceremony was a success."

"That's lovely, but why do you sound so disgusted." Lucius purred.

The man held out hand and something slim and silver lay in it. "This is the creature, it's feeble and weak. Our Lord believes it will be useful yet. Tonight the red moon rises and The Dark Lord demands the ritual be re-done."

"Does he require my presence?" Lucius sighed in agriviation.

"No, he asks that you protect the creature. Our Lord believes that an auror spotted the creature last night, he asks that you protect it." McNair snarled. It was obvious to anybody that he was jealous. He was jealous that Voldemort trusted the care of his most precious scheme to Lucius and not himself. "I'll return tomorrow with news of the ceremony."

With that the man dropped the creature on the floor, much to Harry's outrage and slipped back into the green fire. The moment that body was no long in the fire Harry dashed over to the sliver strip on the floor.

"Harry!" Lucius gasped. "Were you listening at the door?"

The teen was so worried about the silver creature that he just nodded. Harry picked it up and drew in a sharp breath. At first the creature resembled a silver snake, but then Harry noticed that it had tiny little claws with small soft silver talons.

On it's head were a pair of huge closed eyes. But the most amazing thing about it were the little wings which were pressed against his skull. Suddenly it flapped those wings and they opened around his head. They looked like bat wings expect covered with those silver scales. As it flailed weakly it's scales shone with metallic green hues.

"What is it?" Harry gasped.

"It's a hybrid between a basilisk and a chimera." Lucius growled, sitting back into the plush pillows of the couch. "The Dark Lord has been planning this little scheme for years. He plans to create a basilisk with the powers of a chimera, a creature that will only obey him."

"What sort of power does a chimera have?" Harry murmured, as he gently pet the snake.

"Chimera's are very rare creatures, hardly seen by humans and almost never by wizards." Snape explained, "They prefer humans to wizards actually. A chimera, if aided by a human or wizard will become it's savior's protector. They will never abandon their master, and will do anything in their power to protect him. Chimera's also have a strange set of magical powers, they increase the power of their master."

"What else do they do?" The teen asked.

"Nobody knows, the last known Chimera who bonded with a wizard was centuries ago, during the French revolution I think." Snape shrugged. He walked over to Harry and the little creature in the teens hand and knelt beside them. "It'll need a healing potion…"

The potions master got to his feet and walked quickly back to the book shelf. He pulled out a book and the entire shelf flipped around to reveal a desk full of bubbling cauldrons and beacons. Snape started to sift through bottles, looking for a healing potion.

"Um, Sev? I don't think it needs a healing potion," Harry's awestruck voice came from the floor.

"Nonsense, the poor thing can hardly move."

"No really, Sev I think I'll need a healing potion." The boy who lived murmured. The man walked quickly back to Harry to see the little snake feeding from the thick vain at the base of his wrist. The potions master was to shocked to say anything, instead he walked back to his potions and found a vial full of dark purple liquid.

"What is it doing!" Lucius snarled.

"It's healing itself," Snape sighed dryly.

Harry yelped as he felt the snakes claws grow and dig into the palm of his hand. "His claws weren't sharp a minute ago!"

"He's using your blood to heal himself." The potions master handed Harry the vial. "Drink it when he's done, it's a blood replenishing potion."

The snake released Harry's arm and withdrew two tiny fangs from the wound. It licked the perfectly round cuts and then looked up at Harry with big emerald eyes. "I'm not dead!" Harry exclaimed.

"So it doesn't kill with it's eyes," Snape mused. "I wonder if you could make it."

"How could I make it kill somebody?" Harry asked.

"You are it's master now, congratulations."

Harry looked down at the snake with was now crawling up his arm, "What do I feed it!"

"Don't ask me," Snape shrugged.

The Chimera/basilisk settled itself around Harry's neck, his cool silver talons were soft as butter against his skin. It liked Harry's cheek with a forked tongue, and if animals could smile, it smiled. "So…is it a Chimalisk?" Harry chuckled.

"How about basamera?" Lucius suggested.

"How about a name, you twit." Snape rolled his eyes.

"Quetzalcoatl!" Harry exclaimed. The two men looked at him as if he had lobsters crawling out of his ears. "No, no, it means feathered serpent! It's some Aztec god, Moody told me about him once over Christmas break last year!"

"Feathered serpent…" Snape repeated, "Well the thing does have wings."

"And it's a snake," Lucius shrugged.

"What do you think?" Harry asked, the two men in the room looked around for who he was addressing, before they realized it was the creature. The Chimera/Basalisk, now known as Quetzalcoatl, made a satisfied hiss and licked Harry's cheek again. "Well then Quetzal it is."

Suddenly the fire blazed and a very flustered Remus Lupin emerged from the fireplace, carrying a suitcase.

"Remus!" Harry greeted. He quickly took in the werewolf's angry appearance and asked sheepishly, "How ya doin'?"

"I need a drink." The man sighed, plopping down on the next couch.

"I never figured you for substance abuser," Lucius snickered, as he sauntered over to Remus' couch.

"Dumbledore's coming over." Remus snapped.

Lucius fell onto the couch across from Remus, "Nixy?"

"Yes, Master Malfoy, sir?" A house elf squeaked as she popped into the room with a bow.

"Can you get me a shot of something with a high content of alcohol?"

"Is rum alright, Master Malfoy, sir?"

"Excellent."

"Oh look whose the alcoholic now," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Why is Dumbledore coming!" Lucius growled. "And why couldn't you sneak away form him? You used to be so good at it when we were in school!"

"Nag, nag, nag," Remus snapped back.

The house elf popped up again with four shot glasses and a bottle of rum. "Is this alright, sir?" She asked earnestly.

"Fine, fine." Lucius said dismissively. The house elf bowed before disappearing with a pop. Harry plopped on the couch next to Remus and Snape next to Lucius.

The teen poured himself a shot of rum, when suddenly Remus snapped, "Harry your underage!"

"Don't be a hypocrite, Remus, we all know your drinking record." Snape chuckled.

The werewolf pouted but never the less let Harry take a sip of his rum. "Oh, Lucius is Draco here?"

"Nah, he's at Diagon Ally." Lucius responded. He took another sip of Rum, "Why?"

"Dumbledore wanted us all here."

Lucius cursed and once again called for Nixy, "Nixy, would you go fetch Draco? He's in Diagon Ally."

"Of course Master Malfoy, Sir." The house elf disappeared with a pop, leaving the room in silence. Nobody spoke, each was lost in his own thoughts. The house elf reappeared about ten minutes later, gasping the wrist of a very sullen Draco.

"Father? What's this about? You said I needed to be back by eight." The Slytherin pouted. "What's Lupin doing here?" Draco asked as he caught sight of the werewolf. "And whose-" The blonde gasped and his eyes widened. "Potter!"

Remus glared at Lucius as if to say, you-didn't-tell-him. Lucius shrugged and shot Remus a sheepish grin.

"Father! Harry Potter is sitting on your couch drinking rum! Please tell me what's wrong with this picture!" Draco snarled.

"Sit down, Draco." Lucius sighed.

It wasn't an order so the teen didn't move.

"Er, well Harry's doing to be staying here till school starts."

"WHAT! He's Harry Potter! We loath him! And since when did you start calling him Harry!" Draco yelled, his voice becoming shrill.

"He had a run in with some reporters so He'll be staying here for his on protection." Lucius growled.

"Since when do we give about Potter! We hate him! We're rivals," Draco gestured from himself to Harry, "Rivals!"

"Um…I'm sorry to interrupt, but my name's Harry not Potter." Harry interjected shyly. "And can you stop yelling? We're all sort of stressed here."

Draco looked incredulously at Harry and then back at Lucius. "This is a joke right?"

"Harry doesn't exactly…er…remember much."

"He lost his memory." Draco deadpanned.

"Right, and…" Lucius trialed off. Rarely was he so flustered as he was now. Normally he knew why he was defending somebody, he knew exactly what to say. But now, he didn't exactly know why Harry was staying in his house, or why he felt such a strong desire to protect Harry.

The younger Malfoy glanced at Harry. He couldn't help notice how small Harry was. He couldn't have been more then 5'5. Draco was already 5'10. The teen also noticed Harry's long wild hair, Harry's hair had never been that long. Of course he couldn't ignore those brilliant emerald eyes. Without the glasses to dull their intensity Harry's eyes shone like an emerald fire. "So he doesn't remember anything?"

"No I remember you," Harry cut in sharply.

"Whata bout me?" Draco sneered.

"That your in Slytherin."

"That's it?"

"Well I remember we didn't like each other much," Harry shrugged. "I don't really get why we didn't like each other though."

"Cause you're in Gryffindor and I'm in Slytherin." Draco said automatically.

"Still that shouldn't make two people to hate each other. You know those houses are a bad idea." Harry mused. "They just create rivalries and stereotypes."

Draco shrugged in return and finally asked, "Why are we getting drunk?"

"Dumbledore's coming to bother us." Remus responded.

"Oh do you want a sip?" Harry asked, suddenly all eyes in the room were on him. They realized he was talking to Quetzal and Draco gaped.

"What is that!"

"This is Quetzal!" Harry grinned, he gently lifted the hybrid off his neck and placed it in his hand. "He's a Chimera Basalisk hybrid!"

"…I think I need a drink too." Draco sighed. He sat down on Harry and Remus' couch next to the boy who lived.

"Sev can I give Quetzal some rum?" Harry asked.

"Don't ask me, you should talk to Hagrid." Snape said with a smile, "Try it anyway though, I don't think Chimera's get sick often."

Harry dipped his finger in his rum and held it up to the hybrid's tongue. It licked the rum and hissed with satisfaction. Quetzal crawled back up to rest around his master's neck and eyed Draco with interest. "Hey Draco, I think he likes you." Harry teased mischievously.

Draco was taken aback at the laughing twinkle in Harry's eyes. He'd never seen that before. Either Harry really had lost his memories or this was not Harry Potter."I don't like to touch things with sharp claws anymore." The blonde growled dryly, referring back to an embarrassing incident with a Hippogriff.

"Oh, Buckbeak? I promise Quetzal won't cut you, her talons are kinda soft."

"You remember that?" Draco gaped.

"Um…Yeah, in third year, you got cut up by Buckbeak…and, then the axe, and the pumpkins," Harry murmured.

"So you do remember…"

"Just faces and places, not really anything specific." The dark haired teen shrugged. "Now seriously, I think Quetzal likes you, I promise he won't hurt you."

"Fine, but if it cuts me I'll cook it." Draco growled.

Quetzal crawled onto Draco's shoulder and sniffed him. The teen froze underneath the hybrid. Harry watched eagerly as the snake-like creature crawled around Draco's neck and tasted Draco's cheek. Quetzal hissed happily and licked Draco's cheek.

"See! I told you she likes you!" Harry exclaimed.

Draco was still pale and a little shaky, but he nodded. The hybrid crawled back to her master and slithered around his neck.

"A Chimera will protect it's master at all costs, one thing a chimera does is judge the people around it's master to see if they mean it's master harm or not." Snape interjected.

"And he says he doesn't know anything about Chimeras," Harry muttered. Suddenly that familiar wave of premonition slammed into Harry. Quetzal hissed violently and glared at the fire with his huge emerald eyes as Harry fell into a violently fit of sneezing.

Draco looked at Harry with shock, "Harry?" He didn't quiet understand why he wasn't sniggering at his enemy who was choking on his sneezes.

"Damn it, that's the second time today!" Harry sniffled, he rubbed his eyes and twitched his nose in a rabbit like fashion.

"Second time?" Remus asked in alarm.

"Yeah right before Mcnair showed up I started to sneeze," Harry shrugged. "Am I allergic to something?"

But a different idea was flying through the other occupants of the room's mind. And as if to strengthen their idea, a figure stepped out of the fire. A figure with a long white beard and unreadable blue eyes.

Quetzal wrapped herself tighter around Harry's neck and forced him to look at Dumbledore. He hissed at the headmaster, who looked at the hybrid in shock.

At the sight of this man images assaulted Harry's mind. He was chained to the floor in cast iron shackles. Somebody yelling that he was a spy, somebody else yelling at them to shut up. That mans' twinkling blue eyes, looking down at him with a mixture of regret and pity. Those chains cutting into his wrists.

Suddenly he saw the white bird splattered red, hooting and shrieking madly, an owl, it was an owl. They danced around the fire, holding the white owl, laughing and shrieking with delight. Somebody was screaming and crying. Pictures were burning, edges curling up under the flames. A woman with red hair and a man with glasses and familiar messy hair smiling at him as they burnt.

"Harry?" somebody whispered.

The teen was suddenly jerked out of his trance to look back at this man in one of those silly wizards robes. Hate and fear curled into one at the pit of his stomach. The hybrid wrapped around his neck hissed menacingly at the man who was walking towards Harry.

"Harry, do you remember me?"

The teen took a deep breath and turned his gaze to the floor beside him. He was going to be polite and civil. He would not scream of yell. That took far to much energy, and besides, that would only make him look even younger and weaker. The last thing Harry wanted to do was slip up in front of this man, this man who, he knew, controlled almost every aspect of his life.

"Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore right?" Harry said quietly. His voice sounded smooth and polite, even to his own critical ears. Nobody would ever know how difficult it was to say that name.

"Yes, it's very good that you remember me. Tell me do you remember anything else?"

"Hogwarts…You're the headmaster of Hogwarts, and lemon drops." Now that he was saying it, Harry realized how odd that really was. An old man who was so obsessed with sweets, especially lemon drops. Something just irked him about it. "You like lemon drops."

"Excellent, tell me about Hogwarts."

Harry shifted his bright green eyes to Dumbledore who was standing just a few steps in front of him. "A Badger, a snake, and a hawk, and there's something else."

"A lion Harry, a lion belongs to the Gryffindor house, your house."

For once that piece of important information brought nothing back for Harry. He remember nothing of Gryffindor house, although he knew how important houses were….he didn't remember anything about his, or anybody in it. "I'm sorry but I don't remember anything about the Gryffindor House."

Dumbledore nodded and sat down in a chair by the two couches. "Harry if I may ask, why is there a snake around your neck?"

"Um," Harry looked questioningly at Lucius who nodded, "It's not a snake. He's a hybrid between a basilisk and a chimera."

The wizard looked at Harry gravely before sighing, "Harry that's quite a dangerous pet, I'm afraid it's not in your best interest to hold onto it."

"His name's not it, it's Quetzal." Harry informed the man coldly. "And he won't be going anywhere."

"A hybrid of a basilisk and a chimera would be an extremely dangerous creature, both are naturally inclined to kill. It would not only be a danger to yourself, but to others around you."

"_He's not only a danger to himself, but to others around him," _Those words ran though Harry's mind. Who said those words to him? The teen shook his head. "Actually a chimera will protect it's master from harm. I happen to be this chimera's master."

"Very well Harry, but if the creature gives you problems don't hesitate to give it to myself or Hagrid, you remember Hagrid I trust?" Dumbledore said kindly. Harry nodded. "Well then, let's get down to business."

"Let's." Lucius echoed dryly.

"Lucius, Remus has informed me that Harry will be staying here until school begins."

"Yes, he will be," Lucius growled, shooting Remus a filthy glare that screamed, snitch!

"Will any death eaters be visiting here over the summer?"

"No, I've cut off the floo system and as you know only house elves can apparate in or out of Malfoy Manner."

"You can be sure that Voldemort will not get a hold of Harry."

"Absolutely." Lucius replied sincerely.

"Well then, I'll see Harry on September first then." Dumbledore said, getting to his feet. "Goodbye Harry, see you in September." He disappeared into the fire and the entire room held their breath.

"That was weird." Draco finally acknowledged.

"I thought he'd pester us more," Remus sighed in relief. "Thank god he's gone!"

"I agree, but I don't like it." Lucius shrugged. "Something was wrong with that meeting, I think he only came to bug Harry. He didn't pay attention to anybody but him."

"Can we never talk about that bastard again," Harry sneered. "I don't trust him at all, and Quetzal hated him."

"In the end Dumbledore's working only for Dumbledore." Snape said, taking a last sip of rum.

XoXoXo

The rest of Harry's first day at Malfoy Manner passed in a blur of books, food, and finally curling into his pillows and sleeping. He woke up the next morning to soft golden sunlight and smiled happily. He petted Quetzal who lay in bed beside him, curled on his own soft pillow. The little hybrid was still asleep, so Harry decided not to wake him. No reporters yelling though the window. He lay in bed for a while, looking at the sunlight and wondering about that garden.

He wanted to explore that garden today, or maybe he'd go to the library and read more. Or maybe Sev would teach him about potions. A smile flourish on the teens lips and he crawled out of bed and changed into jeans and a t-shit.

Harry peeked out the door into the hallway and glanced around. Nobody there, he hadn't expected anybody to be, but it would've been nice. Suddenly something cracked behind him and Harry whirled around.

"Ooh! Nixy is sorry sir, she didn't mean to frighten Master Potter!"

"No need to apologize, you just startled me, that all Nixy, and don't call me master potter, please. Harry's fine." The teen said kindly

"Yes, sir master Potter-I mean Harry, sir. Nixy is here to take you to the kitchen for breakfast, sir, if Master-um Harry's hungry."

"Breakfast sounds great."

The house elf led Harry down the marble hall that lead to the library, but instead she turned down a huge flight of stairs before the library. Now they were in a huge entrance hall, Nixy took a left into a huge dinning room, and she continue back through a thick wooden door to a kitchen. It was a modern muggle kitchen complete with an island in the center outfitted with barstools.

"This is a muggle kitchen!" Harry gasped.

"No, everything works by magic, but it's based off a muggle kitchen. Master Malfoy finds that eating every meal in the dining room gets lonely." Nixy explained. "Sit, sit and Nixy already made you breakfast!"

Harry slipped onto one of the stools and watched as Nixy set a huge tray of breakfast in front of him. Harry ate like a starving man, and then grinned at Nixy. "It was great, did you make it?" She nodded shyly. "I can't wait for lunch."

"Thank you Master Harry sir! He is so kind to Nixy!"

"No really, you cook really well! Hey Nixy, do you know where everyone is?"

"Nixy doesn't know where Master Malfoy went, but Master Draco is in his room and Master Snape is in the library. Nixy thinks he is making potions, master Harry, sir."

"Oh, thanks Nixy!"

Harry left the kitchen and passed into the dining room. The table was huge, as was the room. There were three large windows on the side of the room and sunlight poured in. It was pretty, but lonely…very lonely.

He found his way back to the library where he found Sev fiddling with his potions. "Good morning Sev!"

"Gah!" The potions master growled. He whirled around to glare at Harry. "Shush! I'm making a memory potion."

"For me?"

Snape nodded. "It's in case you don't remember how to use magic."

"Oh, can I help?" Harry asked.

The man eyed Harry carefully before pointing to a knife and a cutting board. "Chop up those roots, remember, a fine and even dice."

Harry began to chop up the roots, and he was careful to do them all right. He didn't want to disappoint Sev. Snape glanced over at Harry periodically to make sure he was doing everything right and was surprised to find that everything was chopped very well and quickly. Had Harry always been this talented at potions? "Done!" Harry presented several bowls full of the roots to Snape who nodded.

"Well done Harry, now I need six Joberknoll feathers, Draco has them in his study. It's on your floor, oh and wake Draco up while your up there. It's almost one."

"Sure thing, Sev." Harry grinned. He dashed up to his room and found Quetzal sitting in a catlike pose on the bed, glaring at him. "Sorry Quetzal, are you hungry?"

The hybrid shook his head and hissed loudly. Harry smiled and let the creature crawl up his arm and settle at it's place around his neck. He closed the door to his room with a click and walked carefully to the door down the hall.

"Um…Draco?" Harry asked as he knocked door.

"Over here," Draco called.

Harry turned his head from Draco's door and saw that at the end of the hall was an open door. Harry walked curiously down the hall and peered in. This room was also lined with books and sunlight flooded it. Harry saw that at the end of the room was the figure of a blonde sitting at his desk, jotting something down.

"Morning, Draco." Harry murmured shyly. He still wasn't exactly sure how to act around Draco. He knew he and Draco had a bad past, but Harry didn't remember all that. All he remember about Draco were his sparkling silver blue eyes and his silvery blonde hair. The dark haired teen knew Draco remember their arguments and fights, and so Harry was at a loss.

"Morning."

The reply wasn't cold or warm, but it certainly wasn't inviting. Harry sighed almost sadly. The reply hadn't given him anything to base his actions upon. He didn't know if Draco was still angry about what had been said years ago, or if Draco didn't care. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" Draco asked, now his voice held a trace of surprise and now Harry could finally sense that Draco was just as tense and nervous as he was.

"I said some nasty things to you," The emerald eyed teen admitted. "I acted childishly towards you and I'm sorry for it."

"I never thought I'd ever hear you apologize."

Harry crossed his arms over his chest and found that the floor next to his foot was becoming increasingly interesting to look at. "I'm wrong, I was wrong by being cruel to you. I let my personal prejudices get the better of me."

"How can you apologize for something you don't even remember." Draco snarled. He still didn't turn back to look at Harry, but his animosity was palpable.

"I remember you," Harry murmured honestly. "I remember how your hair's more silver then blonde. And I remember how your eyes were always narrowed and never smiling. I remember how much hate filled them whenever we spoke…"

"What else."

"I remember that I used to wonder sometimes what your eyes would look like if you were smiling. And I wondered if I could ever fill them with anything but hate…" Guilt came crashing into Harry like a wave and it settled around his shoulders like an old familiar cloak. "I hated you because you always reminded me that all I can do is bring hate and suffering."

Draco froze in his chair. The sound of scribbling from the corner dimmed and Harry winced. He'd done something wrong again. "You really think that?" His voice was raw with emotions Harry couldn't decipher.

"Mm Hm."

"Who told you that," The scribbling resumed.

"Well nobody actually said it to me…I remember people dying because of me, and I remember how people would look at me. They looked at me like I was a freak, a little nuisance causing trouble. And because of me somebody died…people die because of me." Harry's voice was hollow, the voice of a puppet whose strings have snapped.

"Your friends would've died to protect you, they all loved you, Ron and Hermione…."

"Who?" Harry whispered.

"You don't remember them at all?"

"No, should I?"

"No, you shouldn't." Draco snarled. His own mind was drifting back to the night when the rumors started to fly that Harry was working with Voldemort. nobody in the Slytherin house had believe those pathetic rumors. The Slytherins were the only ones who truly understood Harry's pride and nobility, even if Harry didn't quiet understand it himself. But that nobility was what had always made Harry different.

It was almost heartbreaking how quickly the school turned on their golden savior. How many times had Harry saved their lives? To many. That night, the Slytherins saw the fire, and they looked at it in disgust. They looked at the grotesque scene before them and left in revulsion.

They couldn't help Harry, nobody could. Harry had to discover why he didn't belong on his own. He would have to suffer like all the different people did, Harry would always be forced to suffer because he was special.

"Harry, come here." Draco sighed. He cleared his mind of Hogwarts and that terrible night with a cough. He heard Harry's footsteps on the wooden floor.

The wide eyed teen stopped next to Draco's desk and looked out the window at the huge garden. He fidgeted nervously before finally saying, "I'll go, Sev just asked me to get some Joberknoll feathers."

"I'm sorry too."

Harry's emerald eyes jerked back to Draco in shock. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because I started the rivalry between us. That day at the doors to Hogwarts, I acted like a spoiled little prat, I enforced your idea that all slytherin's were like me and I apologize." He looked up and noticed Harry refused to meet his gaze. "And I never hated you."

"Then why'd you always look at me like you did?"

"I was jealous of Hogwarts' golden boy." The blonde confessed. "I was jealous that everybody loved you. But I guess as time went one, I began to had an image, and not a real person. All I ever knew was an image."

"You never got to know the real me," Harry murmured. "Don't feel bad, nobody did."

"Not even your friends? They didn't know the real you?"

"I doubt it, I was always sort of different."

"I know," Draco responded. "Harry I never hated you, I never knew you well enough to hate you." He looked down at his hand and found it was edging towards the edge of the desk, to where Harry's hand was carefully resting on the polished dark wood.

"Would you like to get to know the real me?" Harry asked gently, he looked away from the wall and rested his brilliant eyes on Draco's.

"Ya know, I think I would."

Draco didn't notice that his hand had inched it's way onto Harry's, and Harry forgot all about those Joberknoll feathers he promised Sev.

XoXoXo

"Bloody teenagers," Snape muttered as he removed six Joberknoll feathers from their bottle which was right next to the roots Harry had just chopped.

A/N: Yay! It's done, longest chapter I've ever written. Hope everybody likes Quetzal and Draco, please review? Pretty please with a cherry on top?


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Alright who hates it when snarky people OCD people go around and try very, very hard to find inconsistencies in books? Currently I am going to answerer all reviewers

Manx-if you're still reading, I'm sorry about the time-line error. I'm awful with time and such, so I apologize in advance for any more time line errors. I'm planning on having Harry in his 7th year…for reasons that will become known in this chapter or the next.

Snarky B-Oh bless my heart, jesus has come down from the sky to correct my grammar. Well fuck you, how many times have you fucked up your and you're? And please, at least say something positive if your going to call me a dumbass. Ha I purposely used the wrong your there to mock you. So hah.

Those two people reviewed chapter 3, but I'm pissed at them so they're getting yelled at.

emuerz-Grins

hazel-3017 –hehehe, me loves cherries! So glad your liked quetzal, I have my old Spanish teacher to thank for his existance.

Eowyn23-In the midnight hour, she cried more more more, with a rebel yell he cried more more more! Yeah sorry been listening to too much rock music.

gaul1-Huzzah!

Kkwy- Ain't he adorable? I swear I should've named this story everybody loves Harry!

goddessa39-Indeed I shall! As you can see I'm doing now, lol.

Srry for the way I am-teehee I made you go aw! Yes I am very easily amused.

Faerie Nyx- That was the single longest chapter I have ever written. I'm trying to start writing longer chapters.

japanese-jew- ah! I'm sorry, but I'm a complete Harry/Draco fan girl! Sniffle. Harry won't start buggering Draco, I promise!

rosiegirl-Yes sev is a very sneaky little moon-rat. I'm sleep deprived, don't question my nicknames. Muahah, bad things are in store for Dumbledore though.

Hazel Maraa-I wish Snape hadn't turned evil, the good guys really need a bitchy good guy or else they'd all just be goody two shoes….which they all are.

myniephoenix –It must be that Slytherin blood, lol.

TeeDee-More will totally be coming now, I was going to say soon, but that wouldn't work since your actually reading this now.

k- Gasp! You cried when Albus died! Shame! However am proud you never really liked him though, hehe.

kinguofdoragons-sank u!

Saber ShadowKitten-and keep writing I shall!

Oh and to answer some questions, Quetzal is a boy, sorry if I screwed that up earlier.

July 8th, 1997.

_"My Lord, the beasts have emerged." A man robed in black stated. _

_Harry Potter's eyes flew open and he found himself standing in a forest. He was in a huge clearing to be more exact. He looked down at the dirt underneath his feet and saw marks dug into the dirt. It took a moment for his eyes to focus on the marks and realize they glowed bright red in the dark of the night. He gasped and leapt of the lines. _

_Emerald eyes scanned over the clearing and the boy who lived sucked in a sharp breath. Carved into the ground and glowing red was a huge pentacle. The teen looked up into the sky and saw a huge blood red moon hanging above him. His brilliant eyes widened and he glanced frantically around the pentacle, it was lined with men in black cloaks and bright white masks. _

_Harry's eyes suddenly fixed on a figure and he gasped once again. Sitting on a huge throne of polished dark stone, directly across the pentacle from Harry was a man. This man had fire colored eyes, as large as Harry's. His skin glowed a sickly silvery red in the moonlight. Harry guess naturally the skin was an unholy shade of silver outside the light of this bloodied moon. In his unnaturally long fingers the man twirled a dark wand. Those red eyes looked right through Harry's, as if he wasn't actually seeing Harry at all. _

"_Excellent." The man with eyes of fire purred. _

_A loud howl filled the night, Harry whirled around, eyes wide with fear to see the forest itself stirring. The teen froze as he saw a dark silhouette lumbering out of the forest. It looked like a dog, albeit a very large dog and suddenly an image of a similar dog struck Harry, a huge dog with electric blue eyes which sparkled with mischief. _

_The teen was brought out of his daydream when he realized there was not one dog, but many emerging from the forest. With a start Harry's eyes darted around the clearing frantically and he finally realized, the entire pentacle was slanted on the top of a hill. The pentacle itself dripped down the slope of the hill like melted wax, however it kept its shape. _

_Harry began to see the creatures take shape before him. They had glowing eyes, almost like cats eyes. Except these eyes glowed in every shade of the rainbow, and in several colors that seemed not of this world. Their bodies were those of huge lions with long shaggy mains that shimmered in the light of the red moon. Their pelts were soft and inviting and glowed in spectacular colors, just like their eyes. They had the horns of a goat that grew on the top of their heads, right next to their ears. _

"_Chimeras." Harry whispered. The chimera's passed by him without noticing or attacking him. Each one stepped into the pentacle and found a place which faced towards the moon. Except one chimera with dazzlingly alluring emerald eyes. The chimera stopped in front of Harry and the creature brushed her nose against Harry's chest. _

_This chimera had an impossibly black main to go with those emerald eyes, its fur was a brilliant shade of silver which glowing eerily red in the moonlight. It kept rubbing against Harry, as if demanding him to watch her. The teen gently stroked the giant creatures fur and watched it walk into the pentacle. _

_She moved into the center, pelt shining brighter then all the other Chimeras', nose in the hair and head held high. _

"_Come!" The man with red eyes snapped. _

_A blood curling roar shook the forest, as something gigantic snake slithered out of the forest. The basilisks' scales were as black as obsidian and they shimmered a bloody crimson every time the creature moved. There were no eyes in its huge head, only huge gaping sockets. It stopped next to the polished stone chair, as if awaiting an order. _

"_Stay." _

_It curled around the huge throne, eyeless sockets fixed on Harry. The teen felt a shiver run up his spine. But he bravely watched as the Chimeras gazed up at the moon. Nobody spoke, they all looked up at the moon with the Chimeras. But Harry's emerald gaze was fixed on the noble chimera in the center, whose eyes were fixed on the ground. The creature glanced back at Harry and their eyes met. Those two exact shades of emerald locked on each others for a moment before the Chimera looked back at the ground. _

"_Go to her," The man on the throne hissed. _

_The basilisk slithered towards the noble Chimera and drew itself to its full height before her. She looked up at him in pure boredom. The basilisk hissed and she kept her jaws clammed shut. It snarled again at her and she fixed those large emerald eyes on his empty, lifeless sockets. A look of triumph flashed though her eyes as the basilisk leapt on her. The chimera's in the pentacle followed suit and leapt on each other, snarling and hissing_

_Harry gasped and took a step away from the pentacle, emerald eyes wide. Suddenly a pillar of silver exploded from the pentacle and shot up into the sky. The boy who lived fell onto his back onto the forest floor and scrambled away from the light as quickly as he could, eyes never leaving that pillar. Harry backed into a tree and leaned against it, panting and gasping at the marvel in front of him. _

_The entire forest lurched and howled at the moon. The wind hissed through the trees at a violent pace, tearing leaves and dirt form the place on the forest floor into the air. The harsh wind funneled around the pillar of silver, squishing it into a slender cylinder. Harry's long dark locks were trapped in the wind, blowing wildly at the pillar. Every tree in the forest was blown towards it. The wind picked up and the man with red eyes began to laugh. _

_Harry clenched his eyes shut and wrapped his arms around the tree trunk. He clung to it for dear life as the wind sliced through the skin on his hands and face. The man's laughter was as brutal and cutting as the wind. The boy who lived shuddered and finally let loose a blood curling scream. _

_The wind died down and the silver cylinder in the sky vanished. The huge red moon was once again visible hanging over the hilltop. Harry saw the chimera's all looking back at the moon, when suddenly, one howled at it. _

_More chimera's began to howl at the moon as other chimeras all over the pentacle began to shriek. Half the chimera's howled at the crimson moon and black sky while the other half fell to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain. The proud chimera with the brilliant emerald eyes writhed on the ground, shrieking in pain. Her belly trembled like a jelloid mass._

_A pop filled the clearing, a pop as if somebody had just stepped on a ripe melon. Harry gasped in horror as something exploded in a shower of blood from the chimeras stomach. All the other grounded chimera's stomachs began to pop, that horrible popping sound filled Harry's ears. _

_New howls filled the clearing as tiny silver chimeras emerged from the mothers stomachs. Their weak calls faltered and they turned on their mothers dead bodies and feasted. Their little teeth ripping at their mother's skin, blood dripping down their silvery chins, and a desperate hunger filled their wide silver eyes. _

_But what emerged from the noble chimeras stomach was not a baby chimera. It was snake like in figure with glimmering silver scales. Its' eyes were shut and it wailed pitifully. It was squirming in a pool of its mothers' blood, scales stained with crimson. It's little paws clawed desperately at thing air, the shining tufts of fur there caked with blood. Little wings were plastered to its head by both it and his mother's blood. _

"_Quetzal," Harry breathed. He tried to stand, but the carnage in front of him made the teen collapse onto his knees. He watched in horror, disgust, and fascination as the baby chimera's turned to the moon and howled. They howled along with the chimeras that still stood, screaming at the moon. _

_Harry looked at the man with the fire red eyes and found that now, there was a shock of black hair on his head. He looked more like a man and less like a human spider. "Tom," Harry gasped. He was barraged by images of the chamber of secretes, Ginny lying on the floor, Tom laughing, Tom directing the basilisk, the basilisk biting his arm. The teens hand instinctively slid up to the scar on his arm and held it. _

"_Tom Marvelo Riddle," The dark haired teen hissed, "I am Lord Voldemort." _

_Propelled by some unknown strength inside himself Harry lurched to his feet and stumbled over to Quetzal. He avoided the carnage that covered the ground, but his bare feet touched the chimeras' blood that stained the ground. He shivered in disgust as that warm liquid seeped over his foot, but Harry kept moving. _

_Finally he fell onto the hard ground, his knees slammed into the dirt. He let loose a tiny yelp of pain before gently picking up his frightened Quetzal. He curled the little thing in his arms and with his pajama shirt wiped the blood of his shaking body. _

"_I will get you, Harry." Voldemort mused in an amused tone. _

_Harry looked up to see the man who was his exact duplicate save for a few inches in height and those haunting crimson eyes. "No, you won't. I won't let you kill innocent people." Harry murmured softly. He remembered conversations with this man, hateful cruel conversations. Now he was too focused on Quetzal to care about Voldemort. _

"_I know things about you that you don't even know yourself." _

"_Only the shallow truly know themselves," Harry retorted. Quetzal hissed loudly in his arms and climbed up his arm to settle around his neck. _

"_Do you know what you just witnessed?" Voldemort asked. _

"_The slaughter of innocents." Harry said coldly. He got to his feet and looked up into Voldemort's eyes. _

"_No, you saw the mating ritual of the chimeras…You know if the male chimeras don't howl then the females never need to give birth. The babies will simply die inside her. But when one male begins to howl they will all follow. And do you know who began to howl?" Voldemort asked. Harry shot a filthy glare at the man and opened his mouth to speak when those fiery red eyes cut him off. "You did Harry."_

"_I didn't kill them!" The teen insisted. _

"_Yes you did, that pretty little scream set off all the male chimeras, and then the females gave birth, giving their lives and bodies to their children to devour." _

"_You remember the noble chimera with the emerald eyes? Had she howled, all the chimeras' would've attacked the basilisk, but she sacrificed herself, and in the end innocents still died." Voldemort hissed. "You will play the martyr, oh noble Harry Potter, you will always play the martyr," _

_Harry's eyes stung with unshed tears, and he quickly blinked them away. He didn't respond, unsure of what he could say to such a truth. He was always the martyr, he was the one who suffered for all the other people. He turned and walked away from Voldemort, leaving his doppelganger to laugh amidst the corpses of the chimeras. _

Harry's eyes flew open and he gasped. Emerald eyes gazed blankly at the ceiling which looked blue tinted in the darkness of night. The face of his nemesis and the screams of the chimeras replayed in his mind.

The teen lay there, unmoving and hardly breathing until he was sure he was still in his room and not in that forest. Finally he relaxed against the mattress, panting and gasping. He was covered in sweat and next to him, Quetzal was hissing angrily. Harry gently laid a hand on the top of his head and petted his wings. "I saw it, Quetzal…" He whispered, eyes wide and voice hollow. "I saw him…"

The boy who lived finally let sparkling tears trickle down his cheeks. Harry rolled onto his side and faced the hybrid who watched him with inquisitive eyes. "What does he want with you?" he murmured, petting those soft scaly wings. "What does he want with me?"

Quetzal hissed and Harry drew back his hand. He finally realized what Quetzal saw, his arms were wind burnt and bleeding and his hands fared no better. His face was probably a mess as well.

The teen sighed and lurched out of bed. His stomach was reeling and he was shivering violently. It hadn't been cold earlier, but now his room was freezing. Harry changed into a thick oversized turtle neck and a pair of jeans. He figured it was close to dawn. Harry could tell by the dark blue of the sky outside, it was always darkest just before dawn.

"C'mon Quetzal," Harry said with a small smile at the silver creature. He stretched an arm to the bed and the hybrid crawled up his arm and settled itself around his neck.

Harry walked slowly and stiffly down the stairs and into the large marble hall. He peeked into the library and found the only one inside to be a warm crackling fire, he considered just curling up by the fire and sobbing, but his stomach reeled again and Harry walked back towards the grand marble stairs. He headed towards the kitchen, hopping he'd find Nixy there.

The teen was about to open the dining room door when he heard voices drifting from inside.

"Voldemort has been rather dormant ever since Harry was incarcerated." Somebody claimed.

"Wrongly incarcerated," A familiar werewolf's voice snapped, "Voldemort knew Harry was innocent, he was just playing along, pretending Harry really was his spy by not attacking."

"Even so, he always has a backup plan," Somebody growled.

"Well we don't know what that plan is do we?" Remus hissed again. Harry could tell the werewolf wasn't enjoying the meeting or the people in it. The teen pressed himself closer against the door so he could hear more.

"Order!" A voice quietly boomed, and a shiver ran down Harry's spine. He recognized that voice, Dumbledore. "We do not know Voldemort's next plans and nor do we have any information on them, correct Lucius?"

"Correct."

"Then the next order of business would be-"

"Hey Albus whata bout all those chimera sightings?" A female voice drawled, she sounded younger then everybody else in the room. "Isn't a chimera a sign of destruction?"

"I highly doubt that the chimeras have anything to do with Voldemort, Tonks." Dumbledore said dismissively.

"But remember how the muggle police found a house full of corpses? Each corpse drained of all blood, through two small puncture wounds, the papers said they looked like snake bites, what if-"

"Tonks please get to the point."

"Oh, well I'm thinking two puncture wounds are snake bites, and Voldemort likes snakes right? So maybe he had a snake drain the blood and then he-" Tonks continued excitedly. Harry smiled, he remembered Tonks, her hair was always changing colors and she was like a little child, always animated and friendly.

"Voldemort is no vampire, he has no interest in blood or chimeras."

"Well he was trying to breed that basilisk and a chimera." Lucius interrupted. "I think the lady's got an interesting idea."

"I have fought with Voldemort," Dumbledore said gravely. "I have battled him, and I know his mind more intimately then any of you. He has no fetish for blood and in the case of the basilisk and the chimera his main interest is the basilisk."

Anger clenched tight in Harry's stomach, causing him to forget his nausea. Fine threads of hate rattled down his spine and his wide eyes narrowed. He tossed open the door and loose his furious glare on Dumbledore.

"You don't know anything about him," Harry snapped.

A few rousing gasps of 'Harry' burst through the crowd, the teens' favorite vocalization of his name was from Tonks. "Harry, this is a meeting for adults-" Dumbledore began.

"He's more then interested in the chimeras." The boy who lived said coldly. "Voldemort wants a creature more chimera then basilisk, Quetzal was a failure."

"He came to you in a dream." Dumbledore breathed.

"Harry where did you get those cuts!" Remus burst out loudly, the man just noticed the slice on the teens' sharp cheeks and the red abrasions that graced his face. He leapt to his feet and dashed over to Harry.

"Did he hurt you!" Remus snarled, examining the cuts.

"No…it was the wind," Harry whispered vacantly. "It happened again tonight, didn't it!" He growled at Dumbledore. "They're doing it again, they're going to force the basilisk and the chimera to mate!"

"They are." The old man agreed.

Harry batted Remus away and glared at his headmaster. "Why does Voldemort want to kill me?" He asked straight forwardly-almost randomly.

"Do you not remember the prophecy?" Dumbledore mused.

"I remember the bloody prophecy, but that's not why!" Harry yelled, he took a deep breath and shut his eyes, "There's something else, something you're not telling me."

"If I'm not telling it to you, then I don't know it." Dumbledore shrugged.

"But you don't deny something's missing. Voldemort has no reason to fear a teenager, especially me. He knows me to well to fear me." Harry puzzled. "I know there's something else."

"Harry, if I knew something I would tell you."

"I don't trust you." Harry snapped, crossing his arms protectively over his chest. "So what is this." He gestured to the people sitting around the table.

"This is the Order of the Phoenix." Dumbledore said calmly. "You don't remember them?"

"I remember Tonks…Moody…Shacklebolt..." Harry looked over the crowd of unfamiliar faces sitting at the dining room table, a grin bloomed on his lips, "Hi Diggs!" He said with a wave to the blonde man in a violet top hat who waved back.

"You remember people, but not our purpose?" Dumbledore sighed.

"Something about Voldemort right?" Harry shrugged. "Whatever, I don't care right now. I need to get to Diagon Ally." His emerald eyes left no room for question, despite his new innocent looks, Harry was as stubborn as ever. But now Harry had an aura of persuasion, a no nonsense attitude that left no room for debate. He had finally discovered the nobility that had so set him off, and now it was his weapon to control. He was no longer the wizarding worlds' puppet, he wasn't simply a tool used to destroy the dark lord, now Harry was their prince.

Dumbledore's blue eyes opened wide, and the entire room looked at Harry slightly shocked and slightly confused. A similar thought was running through their minds, Harry had a plan. For Dumbledore this thought was accompanied with alarm, forRemus it was accompanied with a wicked delight. The puppet was striking out on his own, the puppet now held his own strings. And Harry liked feeling of those delicate strings in his hand.

XoXoXo

"Hey, Harry?" Draco yawned, "What exactly are we looking for?" He and Harry stood in front of Gringotts bank, surveying Diagon Ally. Since Harry had been so insistent on visiting Diagon Ally, Lucius had insisted on Draco accompanying him. Draco was exactly upset with the situation, in fact quite the opposite, Harry was a very refreshing break from most of the people he dealt with.

Draco didn't mind most of the Slytherins, in fact he liked most of them. But at times they were all so cynical and jaded, they hardly acted like sixteen year olds. But Harry…at times he was an exuberant child who could hardly imagine there was any evil in the world, and at other he was just as jaded.

"Well we need to get me those froofy robes," Harry muttered darkly. He glared briefly at the wizards shuffling around him in their large robes. Harry was dressed in muggle jeans and a t-shirt, he'd borrowed from Draco which said, 'girl scouts gone wild!' basking in his own individuality.

"C'mon Harry, everyone wears those 'froofy' robes." Draco snickered. During the day he'd discovered that the new Harry as very fun to tease, and seeing as they'd spent the entire day together, he'd taken advantage of the opportunity many times.

"Well they make people look like fat garbage bags!" Harry shouted.

"Fine, we'll get you slimming robes then." The blonde smirked.

"Are you saying I'm fat!"

"Not exactly, but you have put on a few pounds," Draco drawled. Harry glared, huffed, glared again, turned around, turned back to face Draco, and finally crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm kidding, Harry, you're a skinny as an anorexic chick."

"Well I don't want to be that skinny!"

"There's no pleasing some people." Draco sighed dramatically.

"…fuck you." Harry snapped before storming over to Madam Malkin's robes.

XoXoXo

An hour later, after Harry was fitted with new robes, the duo entered Flourish and Blotts bookstore in search of a book on chimeras. "Excuse me," Harry asked at the counter.

"What." The manager snapped.

"I was looking for a book about chimeras." The teen asked with a bright smile.

The manager looked up from his newspaper and shot Harry a sarcastic look. "We don't sell books on theological creatures, kid. Shouldn't you be with your mom or something."

Harry's eyes narrowed and he glared at the manager while behind him Draco snickered. "Fine, freaking prat." He snarled. He stormed out of the shop and waited outside while Draco purchased their school books.

Harry pressed himself against the wall and sulked, nobody took him seriously. He had nearly been kicked out of the Order of the Phoenix meeting because it was 'for adults'. Dumbledore, the lying sneak, wouldn't even properly explain why Voldemort was tyring to kill him! The dark lord had been after Harry since birth, Harry hadn't even done anything to the man back then!

Nothing made sense, a prophecy? How does a prophecy explain the dark lord chasing down a baby? Harry knew there was something Dumbledore was hiding, or maybe Dumbledore didn't even know. Maybe Dumbledore had no idea what Voldemort wanted with Harry.

The emerald eyed teen sighed and rubbed a hand to his forehead. He wrapped a hand around his neck, missing his snakelike companion. Quetzal hadn't been allowed on this visit to Diagon Ally, Harry knew it was better to hide Quetzal from the public for now. But he still missed the hybrid. Suddenly Harry caught sight of something and his eyes flashed open. Directly across him was a tiny little ally, so small he hardly noticed it.

Harry glanced back at Draco who was arguing with the shopkeeper and grinned. He'd be back by the time Draco got the books from that old coot. Laughing to himself Harry slipped down the alley.

As he walked farther and farther down the alley, the bricks on the walls slowly turned darker and darker. It seemed like the blue sky was vanishing from above him and quickly becoming over cast and gray. The ground beneath Harry's feet was now blackened from soot.

Harry paled suddenly as he realized where he was, Kockturn Ally. He gulped and glanced quickly behind him before continuing on, he knew the way back. And besides, he'd only be gone for a second.

The boy who lived glanced nervously around the ally before he saw a sign that said in bold scraggily print, 'Rare and Novelty Books'. The teen trotted quickly over to the shop and slipped in.

Inside it was dark and smelled of must. There were shelves upon shelves of books, lined up in the center of the ship. Two ladders on the far walls led to a balcony where there were even more books. All the available floor space was crammed with piles of books, allowing a tiny path to weave around the store.

"Hello?" Harry called nervously. He crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Anybody home?"

"What can I help you with kiddie?" A man asked. He walked out from between the bookshelves, a tiny smile gracing his features. His soft orange eyes were covered by a pair of silver glasses that were propped on the bridge of his nose and they looked perilously close to teetering off. His hair was a wild mass of black waves that was tied back with an orange ribbon. He was dressed in a baggy white lab coat and practically coated in dust. In has arms he carried a stack of books.

"I was wondering if you had any books on Chimeras?" The teen asked shyly.

"Chimeras!" The man exploded, he nearly dropped all the books he held. "We've got loads! What about chimeras!"

"Er…What do you have?" Harry murmured, a little taken aback by the optimism of this man. He expected to find some creepy old cripple in a place like this, not a hyperactive young librarian.

The librarian dropped his pile of books on the floor, grabbed Harry's wrist and dragged through rows of books. Harry realized that the store was much bigger then it looked on the outside. "Here!" The dark haired man proclaimed. They stood in front of a bookshelf filled with the word Chimera. "Works of fiction and non-fiction, both by muggles and wizards! I'm Aster, just gimmie a shout if you need anything." With that the man scurried off, leaving Harry alone with the shelf of books.

He reached up on his tip toes to fish out a book call 'Chimeras, the theory behind the myth'. He found himself a comfy place against the shelf and sat down to read.

_The myth of the chimera has originated from many sources, the most common of which is the story of Bellerophon and of the three head she-goat which he slaying with a spear. However other sources show that the chimera might have originated years earlier in the ancient city of Babylon. The chimera originated in Babylon as a winged lion, simply a normal lion with the wings of a bird. _

_This version of the chimera's myth still stands today as the most correct muggle vision of this fascinating creature. The Babylonian idea of the chimera spawned from the fact that the Babylonians' first king was the master of a chimera, whom he demanded his people worship. The first chimera to be worshiped by humans was called Anzu. _

_The king and Anzu ruled Babylon together until the king passed away at the age of a hundred and twenty, moments after he died, Anzu crawled beside his corpse and died herself. It is from this story that the first ideas of how a chimera acted was shaped. _

_In later years of Babylon we see the chimera evolve into a wined lion. This winged lion is constantly depicted in art, and it is often seen being fought against. The opponent of the chimera is always shoving a weapon into its mouth. From those early Babylonian images of a chimera with a sword jabbed through the roof of it's mouth spawned the myth of Bellerophon slaying the chimera by jabbing his spear through her mouth. _

Harry sighed and shut the book. To philosophical, he need to find something else about chimeras. Not where they came from, but perhaps their powers, or how they chose a human to bond to. Maybe that had something to do with Voldemort's almost desperate quest to slay Harry. The teen flipped open a new book titled, 'The light from Heaven'.

_Chimera's a mysterious, unique creatures indeed. Many strange myths surround these reclusive creatures. In many myths the chimera is shown as a fire breathing creature of destruction and in other a winged messenger from heaven. Even with the advancement in wizard technology we hardly know anything about the chimera. _

_What we do have are myths. The wizarding world is full of myths about chimeras. One popular truth is that a chimera will bond with a human, muggle or wizard, that saves its life. This bond will last a lifetime and when the human finally dies, the chimera will die beside his/her master. A bonded chimera will do all in its power to protect its master. A popular story is that a chimera can detect poison in its master's food. Another is that a chimera can sense which people mean harm to their master. _

_However those are just stories and have no basis in reality. Another interesting myth about the chimera is their birth. Some stories say a chimera is born by a goat and lion mating, others say a snake and a lion. But what is a constant through out all these stories is the lion, a symbol of nobility, loyalty, and strength. _

_A popular myth is that chimera's a born through a silver beam that shines down from the heavens. This myth is one of the most controversial myths about the chimera because these beams of light have been sighted to many times to be completely ignored. However it can safely be said that when one sees a silver beam shoot into the sky, a chimera is born. _

A/N: woohoo, finished! Everybody please review, if anybody has any interesting info on Chimeras please tell me. Thanks all! Oh and if I didn't mention your review in the top part, I'm very sorry, and you know I love you all!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Suffering….writers block…..augh! hope the chapter came out okay.

When Draco emerged from the bookshop, with a large tote full of extremely heavy books, he looked around for a Harry to dump them on. He realized with a sense of foreboding that there was no such Harry around. The blonde cursed and looked around almost frantically.

The boy who lived was indeed missing…shit. Draco wracked his mind for an idea. Where would Harry go? The Slytherin caught sight of the small ally between two bright red brick shops. What kind of idiot wondered down a small, dark ally? Draco heaved a sigh and pushed his way through the thick crowd to the small ally.

He hid the bag of books behind a trash can and prayed some wizard wouldn't steal it. The blond trotted down the ally. If he lost Harry he was completely screwed, of course Harry was screwed too. Draco knew the little guy was tough…but on his own he doubted Harry could defend himself. Not all wizards were friendly and helpful…in fact most were complete asses.

The blonde realized with a start that the little ally lead directly to Knocturn Ally. "Shit, shit, shit!" He cursed angrily. He broke into a run and reached the end of the little ally. Above him the sky was a sickly gray, around him the shops were frightening buildings of black brick with tall pointed black shingled roofs. "Stupid, stupid, short, anorexic, ditz!" Draco snarled.

He could've done a tracking charm, but until he turned seventeen in December that was illegal. True his wand did have a charm on it that allowed Draco to perform magic, but it only worked if he was in the boundaries of Malfoy Manner, unfortunately they weren't quiet rich enough to buy Diagon Ally.

Draco thought for a moment, Harry would have no fear of any kind of shop; he was to head strong to think ahead about the consequences. True, Draco didn't know the little nuances of Harry's new character, but he knew Harry's flaws, very, very well. Because of his guilt-complex Harry was more likely to stay closer to Draco, so the slytherin looked at the nearest shops. A rare and novelty book store caught his eye.

Draco suddenly remembered Harry asking about Chimera's and being rudely snubbed. The blonde darted over to the bookshop and tore open the door. "Ooh Draco! What're you doing here?"

"Hm?" The blonde murmured, he glanced over and saw a familiar dark haired man waving over at him from behind a pile of books. Aster was, as usual a mess. He'd always been covered in dirt, even back when Draco first met him. Because of Aster's open minded attitude and lust for knowledge his bookstore kept a plethora of illegal titles, many having to do with dark magic.

"Hey, Aster." Draco greeted quickly, "I'm looking for a guy with long black hair, he's um…short and skinny and he's got really big green eyes."

"He's in the back reading about Chimera's; there are not enough young people interested in Chimera's these days!" Aster took a deep breath and prepared to go into a long rant about how young people weren't concerned about their past anymore, although he was only twenty-seven. But Draco did have to admit, Aster was smarter and wiser then many old people he knew.

The blonde stormed into the back of the store which he'd known since he was still a child and found Harry leaning against a bookshelf, nose buried in a book. "Harry," Draco snarled.

The dark haired teen looked up with a deer in the headlights expression that Draco would've laughed at during any other occasion. "Is it so hard to just wait outside the damn store!"

"Well it was boring…." Harry said sheepishly. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry! You're sorry!" The Slytherin exploded. "You are in Knocturn ally! I know people here who would slice you up and put you in a jar by the window! And you, Mr. All mighty Harry Potter, you just have to scurry into the first dark, dangerous looking ally you find!" Draco took a deep breath to continue he rant when he caught a glimpse of Harry's face.

His eyes were wide and glistening, his lips were twisted into a distressingly appealing pout and his eyebrows were slanted angrily down. Draco sighed and plopped down beside Harry, letting a sigh escape his throat. He gently grasped the smaller teen's wrist and noticed a small cut. Draco raised an elegant eyebrow and Harry shrugged.

"I didn't really notice," Harry murmured softly. "I am sorry, Draco, I didn't mean to get you upset…

"Harry, it's dangerous to go running off on your own." Draco chided. He stood up and offered Harry a hand, "We need to get back to the manner anyways."

Draco turned and walked quickly out of the isle, his feet pounding softly on the wooden floor…it sounded slightly foreboding, because there were no other sounds either outside or in the bookstore. He head a loud sneeze and looked back to find Harry doubled over, holding his nose.

After a few coughs the sneezing subsided and Harry wiped his eyes. "That always happens lately."

Ice blue eyes widened and Draco sucked in a sharp breath. Every time Harry went into those sneezing fits something bad happened. "Shit, Harry come on, we need to go now!" Draco snapped.

"What's the rush?" Harry growled.

"Listen."

"…I don't hear anything." The smaller teen said dismissively, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"Bingo," Draco grabbed Harry's wrist and darted through the bookshelves. He didn't even hear Aster humming. Draco cursed and started to run with Harry stumbling behind him. Aster always darted away when there was trouble, but Aster having as little talent with magic as he did, Draco couldn't blame him.

The blonde stopped at the door of the shop, ears prickling, searching desperately for the sound of the normal crowd and heat pounding. Suddenly a blinding flash of green light lit the room. Draco grabbed Harry and tossed him roughly to the side and then leapt over as well. The glass of the store window shattering, slicing Draco's cheek.

Harry was a mess, glancing around in every direction, eyes wide, and heart pounding. Draco once again shoved towards the corner. "Draco!" Harry asked in shock. The two huddled in the corner of the shop where a small bit of window covered them. The rest had been blown in by the blast from the death eaters.

They marched down the street, now cackling wickedly, shooting spells everywhere. They poured into shops and started blasting their way through the shops into Diagon Ally. Sure they could've gone in the front entrance through the leaky cauldron…but destroying buildings was far more dramatic.

"Death eaters, Voldemorts warriors." Draco explained quickly. He surveyed the death eaters, careful not to be seen. Their best bet was to get back to Diagon ally and back into Muggle London. The death eaters hadn't spotted their tiny ally and Draco smiled grimly.

Harry looked up at him blankly. "So do we fight them?"

Draco resisted the urge to smack the adorable little guy and instead settled for a growl, "No, we run as fast as we can back into our little ally." Harry looked very dissatisfied with their plan and pouted. Draco loosed an exasperated sighed, "You plan on fighting them without a wand?"

"…I could!"

"Just shut up and follow me." To be safe Draco grabbed Harry's wrist and fairly yanked the other teen behind him. The coast was clear and so Draco dashed for it. He stepped over the wooden bar on the floor which had once held the shop's glass panels in place, Harry tripped over it. "You ditz!" Draco snarled. He crouched down and cursed again. Harry's hands were sliced up from the glass and blood oozed from each dirty cut.

Harry looked away from Draco who crouched beside him, examining his hands like a mother goose and saw a group of black robed, tall people pointing at them. "Draco!" Harry gasped.

The blonde looked over and saw the death eaters. "Shit!" he yelled as he grabbed Harry's hands and quickly tried to pull the smaller teen to his feet. Harry's slender hands, slick with blood slipped from Draco's fingers and Harry tumbled back to the ground with a yelp.

"And you call me the ditz!" Harry growled. Draco wrapped his arms around Harry slim ribcage and used his height to yank the teen to his feet.

"And for the boy who lived you're completely pathetic at saving yourself!" Draco retorted, with Harry protectively clutched against his chest. He took off running.

"Woah!" Harry yelped, he tripped and grabbed onto the first thing he found for support, which happened to be Draco's neck. Draco let loose a strangled cluck as he tumbled to the ground atop the failing green eyed Gryffindor.

Draco glared down at Harry, who grinned cheekily back at him. "Oops."

"You've officially lost the right to travel on your own." Draco sighed. He looked desperately at the death eaters, who were laughing at the antics of the two. As soon as they saw Draco disentangle himself from Harry, they got their wands ready and started to shoot spells at the duo. The blonde didn't even bother to help Harry up, he just slung the smaller teen over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Ooh Draco duck!" Harry yelled.

Draco looked over just in time to see a spell flashing at his head. He crouched down and then broke into a run towards the ally. Harry called out whenever a spell was heading their way, which was far more useful then him constantly tripping. When they were half way into the ally, Draco put Harry on the ground and crumpled to the ground, adrenalin flooding out of his system.

"Jesus, Harry." Draco gasped. He breathed deeply and tried to settle his thundering heart.

Harry was standing above him, smiling lightly. He looked completely unperturbed by the fact that he had just almost been caught and taken to Voldemort.

"Harry, you do realize that those death eaters would've taken you to Voldemort right?"

Harry shrugged. "After a while you gotta laugh about it."

Draco puzzled over the statement for a while and then his eyes widened. "You remember?"

"What?" The boy who lived asked, looking equally puzzled.

"Voldemort trying to kill you…"

"Oh…" Harry's smile faded and was replaced by something that simply didn't suit him at all. The luster in those large emerald eyes faded and the crooked twist of soft lips slowly loosened. They fell into a perfectly symmetrical frown. Draco couldn't help the twinge of distaste at that frown, he preferred that slightly lopsided smile.

Harry leaned back against the brick wall and crumpled to the ground beside his blonde companion. The teen buried is face in his arms and shook his head. "Why does it matter?"

Beside him the blonde slytherin glanced guilty to the left, carefully keeping his gaze off Harry. "Because, the past is part of who you are."

"I remember that the old me was ruled by the past," Harry whispered softly. "I don't like what I do remember about my past…I don't like knowing that I hated you or that I was some arrogant, vigilante Gryffindor."

Draco wanted to think of something witty and comforting to say, he really did. But nothing came to mind, no wise words or intelligent proverbs. So he said the first thing that popped into his weary mind, "I like you."

"What?" Harry's eyes jerked over to Draco who was smiling warmly at him.

"I like you the way you are." He shrugged and listened for a moment to the pandemonium around him. The buildings tumbling to the ground, women screaming, spells ripping though the air. "Even if you can't stand yourself, I like you. And since my desires are more important then yours', I demand you stay exactly the way you are."

Harry grinned faintly, "Well aren't we Mr. High and Mighty?" Even though his face was covered in dirt, blood, and several cuts…even through all that his grin still managed to make his entire face glow.

"You ditz," Draco snickered, he gently took one of Harry's smaller hands in his own and examined it. "Look at all these cuts."

"Remus is going to murder me,"

Draco glanced down the narrow passage back toward Knocturn Ally. "We should go." Harry nodded in agreement and carefully pushed himself to his feet. He offered Draco a hand. The blonde looked at it for a moment before taking the bloody hand in his own. Harry stumbled back and Draco lurched to his feet. "You got blood all over my hand!" Draco accused the other teen who shrugged impishly.

"Well look at the clock, time to run!" Harry took off down the ally with Draco in close pursuit. The teens could tell when they reached the end of the narrow ally when the screams of panic and blasting became louder. Harry skidded to a halt at the end of the ally, eyes wide and heart racing. All he could see was a herd of people running and screaming, occasionally broken by the flash of a spell or an unusual hair color.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Draco cursed.

"How do we get through that!" The dark haired teen yelped. "Draco?" He glanced over his shoulder to find Draco heaving their tote of books over his shoulder. "You're taking the bloody books?"

"It took my an hour to get that old geezer to give them to me! No way in hell are we leaving them!" Draco argued. Harry simply positioned his thumb and index finger in a large L and pressed it with mock seriousness against Draco's forehead. "You got blood on my forehead!"

Harry grinned and then looked back out at the feeling people. "Are we going to die?"

"Of course not!" Draco chuckled. "Well you might if Voldemort catches you, but currently he's not here and the death eaters are too dim to kill anybody on their own, but they might accidentally frighten some old people to death…"

"Oh,"

When Harry was silent for a moment Draco felt a sense of foreboding wash over him. The boy who lived as thinking…this was usually not a good thing. "Harry?" Draco asked nervously.

"…I've got an idea."

XoXoXo

"Oh! They've stabbed me! They got me right in the head!" Draco yelled as loudly as he possibly could.

People all turned to stare at his bloody forehead and screamed louder. They ran around in a panic, coming up even closer to Draco, one woman petted him. "Shit, Harry that's not working!" Draco whispered harshly in Harry's ear.

"Okay plan B."

"What's plan B!"

"RUUUUUUUUN! HE'S GONE RABID! HE'S VIOLENT! OH SWEET JESUS HE'S CUT ME WITH HIS KNIFE!" Harry bellowed he held his bloody hand to the sky and screamed.

"Ah, scary, blood lust…I've got a knife!" Draco called sarcastically. The two of them managed to shuffle loudly through the crowd, which parted like the red sea for them.

As they made for the exit Harry couldn't help noticing that the frightened people far outnumbered the few death eaters. All these people were so frightened and panicked they couldn't even reach for their wands and attack. "This is so poorly organized!" Harry snarled. "We out number the death eaters at least ten to one!"

"The death eaters are only vicious when under a vicious mans command. On their own they usually just weirdos who get off on fear, not blood." Draco shrugged. He grabbed Harry wrist and pulled the smaller teen from the scene.

"But somebody needs to help them! There's no reason to be so scared!" The boy who lived pulled himself out of Draco's grasp only to be caught one again.

"Your right Harry, but that somebody won't be you. At least not right now with you bleeding so much." Draco said soothingly. Grudgingly Harry nodded and the two walked through the brick wall into a small ally in muggle London.

Draco drew a ring from his pocket and held it out to Harry. The other teen pressed a finger sullenly against it and Draco sighed, "Malfoy Manner." The air around them swirled with light silver and pooled around the ring they both touched. Draco smiled contentedly and let his body relax a little bit. They were finally going home.

A blood curling scream split through the air with a hiss. The silver swirls around the port-key suddenly sputtered and turned to a sickly yellow, stained with red. Harry's eyes jerked towards the brick wall they'd exited Diagon Ally from.

"Draco!" Harry yelped.

A pair of icy blue eyes fixed on the brick wall as it split, a scarlet red portal appeared and black figures poured out of it. "That's not good," Draco murmured, subconsciously stepping away from the wall. He grabbed Harry's wrist and turned to run when a cruel raspy voice slammed into the back of his neck like a hammer.

"Why nephew, the carnival's that way."

At the voice Draco froze in mid step and Harry gasped as though he'd been submerged into icy water. His emerald eyes widened and his entire body froze. That voice….

"_Believe me. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them." _

That voice, back then it was raspy, so painfully raspy. There was desperation to it, a desperation that simply didn't suit him. But underneath it all, Harry could hear the deep, almost blindingly bright passion inside of that man. The warmth and laughter in his voice was only an echo of the depth of the passion inside him.

"_We will see each other again," he said. "You are -- truly your father's son, Harry..." _

The words, those painfully simply words had made Harry happier then he'd ever been in his entire life. Despite the frightening rasp in his, the desperation, the fear, and the exhaustion, it still filled Harry with emotions no words could possibly describe. And despite the tortures that man had suffered, that blinding passion still glimmered in his eyes and warmed that frightening voice.

"_If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." _

Whenever that man wasn't spouting off sarcastic comments or cracking jokes, his words were of wisdom. It was hard to believe somebody so silly and positively childish could say such wise words. But it wasn't just the words he said…it was the way he said them. He told Harry those words with the air of a man who'd suffered, a man who understood how it felt to have their heart sliced open and then rubbed with lemon juice.

"_Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass murderer and the Ministry's put a ten-thousand-Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?"_

Harry cracked a smile at that little comment, a true jewel of that man's sarcasm and almost never ending cynicism. Whenever he spoke of himself, and usually he didn't speak of himself in a proud way, he always spoke with a wry mischievous smile. A smile that clearly said, 'I'm fucked, but I'm damn well going to enjoy whatever's left of my life'.

"_Come on, you can do better than that!" _

Harry smile grew in a grin while tears glimmered in his eyes. Those words were probably how he'd always remember his godfather, smiling and laughing while dodging death itself. It was how that man had always lived…and it was the way he'd died. That was the last sound Sirius made, that rich, warm, tender bark of a laugh.

"_There's nothing you can do, Harry ... nothing ... He's gone." _

Tears splattered onto the cement ground beneath Harry's feet, but he didn't see the small dark ally he was actually in, he saw the department of mysteries. He saw the tatter veil, blowing in a slight wind. He heard somebody screaming for the man who'd tumbled through the veil and he felt tears coursing down his cheeks. He smelt the burn, bloody sent of black magic.

He felt Remus' shocked forlorn words travel through his ear into his brain and echo as if Harry stood alone in a stone tunnel. Harry couldn't move, couldn't breath, he couldn't think. All Harry could do was wait for that man to jump out grinning and give him one of his huge bear hugs. But that grin never came to light up that dark room.

_"This is a two-way mirror, I've got the other. If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you'll appear in my mirror and I'll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions." _

Harry even remembered the little winking smiley face Sirius had scribbled at the bottom of that note. "Sirius," He whispered softly, tears running freely down his cheeks. "Sirius,"

Draco was still deciding what to do when his aunts' voice sliced the air again, "Well, aren't you going to greet your aunty?"

The slytherin looked down at Harry who was crying softly. Draco's eyes widened and he chocked on his breath. That wasn't right, why was Harry crying? Draco shook his head and wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders. The small teen put up no resistance so Draco continued with the plan.

"Aunt Bella," Draco greeted politely. He saw his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange standing with two other men, grinning wickedly at Draco and Harry. Bellatrix's face was still haggard and drawn. Her eyes were heavy lidded and sunken. Her luscious red lips and thick raven hair made a sharp contrast to her deathly white skin.

"Draco, Draco my darling come and join the fun! Did you hear Rodolphus kill that little girl? She wouldn't stop screaming," Bellatrix laughed, it was like nails on a chalk board. Her eyes focused on the slender creature with long, wild black hair, standing next to Draco. "Who is this? A new girl friend?"

"Yeah…she's a little faint, so I'm taking her home to rest." Draco lied easily. He sent a silent prayer to whatever god was watching over Harry to let the teen just stay silent.

"Oh," Bellatrix pouted, "So you won't be able to join the dance?"

"I'm afraid not today, Aunt Bella, perhaps next time…"

"Oh no we'll be joining the dance."

All eyes fixed themselves on the slim teen at Draco's side.

"Harry stop!" Draco hissed. "Don't fuck this up!"

"I won't stop!" Harry hissed, he looked up at Bellatrix and his wild black bangs flung out of his eyes, revealing his fathomless emerald eyes. Those eyes were light with an eerie flame that could burn if you looked directly at them. "I won't stop anymore, I won't run."

"P-P-Potter!" Bellatrix stammered. She took a subconscious step away from his blazing eyes. It took a moment longer then necessary for a sneer to twist itself onto her lips. "So, the rumors are true, well aren't you the cutest thing I've ever seen!" She cooed.

"You killed Sirius."

Bellatrix laughed, "You're still crying over that sack of shit, Potter? I bet you still wake up in the middle of the night screaming for you're crap 'daddy' to come back. Well I killed him, and it's a damn pity I didn't get to see his pretty blood stain the ground."

Something snapped completely inside Harry and his eyes began to emit a soft, eerie green light. Those scorching emerald eyes pierced through flesh and soul and Bellatrix hissed in pain when they rested upon here face. The air around Harry started to twist and crackle.

Draco took yet another step away from Harry and watched in twisted fascination and awe as the crackling air around Harry's slim fingers ignited to silver. He held up his hand and the silver bolts danced around his flesh. One slim finger straightened and with those emerald eyes never leaving Belatrix's empty black ones, a bolt of silver leapt from his finger and slammed into Bellatrix's chest.

She was thrown against the brick wall like a rag doll. Her body cracked sickeningly and she fell to the ground with a sick wet plop. Twin trickles of blood ran from nostrils. Those dark eyes widened and twitched, she was still alive and if she had the bodily strength to scream, she wouldn't uttered such a blood curling shriek.

Harry's eyes never left hers' and he watched her with still glowing eyes. The air around him still crackled and silver bolts danced across his skin. Blood ran from ever pour on her skin and pool around her body. Harry's eyes drank in every ounce of blood, every soundless scream, and every feeble twitch of life in Bellatrix's wasted body.

The air around Harry stilled and his eyes shattered. It was if as a glass wall had been broken in them and now they widened violently in shock, fear, and disgust. He feel to the ground like a lifeless doll, panting and coughing.

"Dear god," Draco whispered, he crawled carefully over to Harry and locked his eyes with Harry's. Those emerald eyes were huge with shock and something else…but it wasn't regret. It was disgust. Draco's face fell, he'd seen this disgust on the face of many a death eater. "Harry?"

The smaller teen howled and viciously batted Draco away. The blonde watched hopelessly as Harry crawled over to Bellatrix's dead body and punched it as hard as he could. Soon Harry's fists were covered in her blood and he screamed louder. He beat her body and smeared her blood all over himself, wining and gasping desperately.

"Harry…" Draco called softly. The teen didn't respond at all, instead he began to sob. His tears mingled with the fresh blood and his sobs were choked with his screams and howls. The icy blonde carefully got to his feet and walked over to Harry, not even bothering to keep his shoes out of his aunts' blood.

He crouched down behind Harry and gently grabbed Harry's bloody fists. "Shush, its okay," The Slytherin murmured comfortingly.

"No!" Harry snarled, fighting Draco off. "It's not! It's not!" He screamed, pounding Bellatrix's cold dead flesh.

"Yes it is, she deserved what she got," Draco soothed. He once again reached out and grabbed Harry's wrists. The emerald eyes teen was sobbing furiously and trying to scream at the same time.

"You don't understand!" The boy who lived howled. He rubbed his eye with his bloody hand in an attempt to stifle the tears. "I'm just as bad as her!"

"Harry, you're fine, your okay-"

"I killed her! I killed her and I didn't feel bad!" Harry screamed. "I murdered her and I don't feel a thing. I'm covered in her damn blood and I don't regret it!"

Draco sighed sadly, "She hurt you, she hurt you bad."

"But I should still regret it," Harry sobbed violently. "I should still regret it!" He howled and threw himself at Bellatrix again, pounding and pounding as his own blood mingled with hers. He sobbed and screamed and finally he fell back onto his knees, in exhaustion, crying.

"You shouldn't regret justice, she's killed scores of people-"

"And I bet she didn't regret it either!" Harry sobbed.

"But you stopped her, now innocent people don't have to die, you avenged all the people she murdered." Draco said soothingly, he gently grasped Harry's wrists and started to mop the blood off them with his own shirt.

"I'm just as bad as her, I don't regret it! I-I-I'm a murderer…"

"You probably saved hundreds of peoples' lives by ending hers'."

Harry sniffled and he sat there silently for a long time, looking from his own hands to Bellatrix and then to the gray sky. A fine mist of rain started to fall and Harry finally whispered, "So this is what it feels like to kill somebody…"

"Most people don't realize the burden you must carry after taking a life…but it never gets' any easier to bear…and the color of blood never does fade," Draco murmured hollowly.

"You?" Harry asked weakly.

"Sometimes…the death eaters get a little over zealous and…you've gotta watch out for yourself right?" Draco mumbled in that same hollow voice, a haunted look in his eyes.

Harry suddenly threw his arms around Draco's neck and cried softly. "How old where you?"

"I was six the first time."

The boy who lived cried harder and whispered softly, "I forgive you for all those times you were a complete prat."

Draco smiled a little bit and softly patted Harry's quivering back, murmuring soft words of comfort.

A/N: Woohoo, it's done! Praise A lah! I almost cried during my little memorial to Sirius, Sniffle. Those patches in Italics were quotes from Sirius, or in one case words about Sirius which were spoken by everybodies Favorite Werewolf, Remus Lupin! Just wanted to clear that up in case anybody was confused.

Please do comment and tell me what you thought of Harry's special new powers. Please and Thank you!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm coming back! WOOHOO! Well maybe just for a little bit, but I watched Hp 3 last night and became very motivated to keep writing, so here I am! High schools going fun, I already got kicked out of my math class and thrown into the algebra 2 class….lol. but that's okay! I should be doing math right now…but since it sucks, I'm writing instead!

"So…what do we do now?" Harry asked quietly. His voice was raw and torn from his sobs and his eyes were red and puffy. Harry was still plopped by the body of Bellatrix, completely soaked in her blood. Draco was propped against one of the brick walls of the alley, running nervous fingers through his hair and glancing constantly at Harry.

For a moment Draco wanted to laugh at how ridiculous this all was. They'd probably been sitting there for fifteen minutes, Harry looked at Bellatrix with a far off look in his gleaming eyes and Draco numbly thinking about what to do next.

"We could wait till an auror finds us," The blonde suggested.

"And I suppose when we say a rabid sqirull attacked her," Harry gestured at Bellatrix, "they'll believe us, no questions asked."

Draco grinned weakly and looked back over at the dead body of his aunt. Millions of questions buzzed through his mind, but one…one took priority over all others. "How did you do that?"

Harry slowly turned to look back at Draco and then those brilliant emerald eyes shifted back to the rag doll body. "I don't know," the boy who lived said honestly. He looked up into the grey clouds and thought back to that moment.

He'd just been so…angry, he was so frustrated with all the stupid people screaming and all the stupid people running. And then he was confronted with yet another stupid person who was mocking the only one who'd ever given a fuck about Harry. "She hurt Sirius."

The slytherin followed Harry's gaze which was fixed on the storm clouds above them. The rain was that aggravating, yet incessant on and off rain. It would pour down on them for a minute before switching off completely. "I hate this weather."

"I like it." Harry said honestly.

"Freak," Draco muttered darkly.

A tiny smile cracked on Harry's dry lips. He felt so disgusting and pathetic, sitting there, covered in blood, in the rain. It was pathetic. All the people running and screaming were pathetic. "This is pathetic."

"What?"

"We should go back in there and make those people stop running, why don't they fight!" Harry shouted. He pounded his fists into the cement.

Draco's gaze was ripped from the sky and it fixed on Harry's back. "Stop it, Harry." He commanded sharply.

"No, tell me! Why do they just run! They have fists, they have wands, why don't they fight!" Harry insisted. He turned to set those fiery green eyes on Draco. Those eyes were so desperately imploring and so…confused, so lost. The boy couldn't even begin to comprehend the fear those people felt.

Draco sighed and shifted his body so he was leaning towards Harry. "Come out of the blood,"

Harry numbly obeyed. He crawled out of the pool of crimson and fell back against the wall beside Draco. Harry wrapped his arms around his slender torso and shook his head. "Please tell me why…why won't they fight?"

"Because," Draco fumbled with his words for a moment before finally stating, "They don't have a leader. They don't have somebody to tell them what to do."

"But why can't they tell themselves what to do?" The emerald eyed teen inquired. Draco looked back at those huge pools of green and wanted to smile. Harry didn't understand the desire to fit in, to just be one of many. Harry would always stand out, whether for those magnificent eyes or because he was the boy who lived, he could never, and would never fit in.

"Why the hell should I know," Draco mumbled irritably, turning away from Harry's piercing gaze.

"I was just asking a freakin' question." The other teen growled in response to his companions obvious hostility. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is sitting here with a retard who just killed my aunt and who's whining about how dumb people are." The blonde snarled. "Now shut up."

Harry pondered a moment, how did one respond to such an accusation. He did kill Bellatrix…completely on purpose…but was he supposed to apologize? What did common curtsey dictate? Well then again there wasn't exactly a rule for what to say when you've just murdered your friends aunt. But then again when some bodies relative died one would normally say I'm sorry… "I'm sorry?"

"For what? She was a bitch anyway." Draco grumbled.

"Oh."

The two teens sat in silence for a moment before Draco thought of their portkey. He glanced around the alley, looking for its familiar sparkle. He spotted it right by Harry's foot. The blonde reached forward and snatched it up. "Touch it,"

"It still works?" Harry asked, never the less he reached out and touched the ring. The air around them turned silver and swirled around the ring. It sang out pure and true. "Malfoy Manner," Draco sighed happily. He could use a bath…well Harry could REALLY use a bath, but Draco REALLY wanted a bath.

The air turned white and the world was just a blur of silver for a moment. The next thing the boys' knew they were sitting on the floor of the Malfoy library with loud voices arguing above them, in fact the owners of the loud voices hadn't even noticed the bloody, dirty teens on the floor.

"You let them go off unsupervised into a potentially dangerous situation!" Dumbledores' voice was calmly accusing, in fact it was almost irksome how calm it was.

"To Diagon alley! Oh yes now that is one dangerous place!" Lucius growled sarcastically, "I didn't think the death eaters would attack! They never strike out on their own like this!"

"Oh Quetzal!" Harry cooed with a huge smile blooming on his face. The little silver dragon had suddenly entered the room and it purred. The half-breed crawled to its' normal place around Harry's shoulder, completely oblivious of the blood and filth his master was covered in.

Draco resisted the urge to smack his forehead. "You ditz."

"What? Why!" Harry protested, "I'm not a ditz!"

"Just stop talking."

Lucius was gaping and whispering something about blood staining, Remus was at Harry's side, noticing and yelping about every single cut, Snape was snarling about the carpet, and Dumbledore was shocked at the sheer amount of blood.

"Harry were did all this blood come from!" Remus accused shrilly.

"Oh, it's not mine," Harry said with a huge grin. He knew how stupid he sounded, but it really didn't matter. He was so happy be to home. He was so happy to be in this beautiful mansion with Remus, and Lucius, and Snape. For a few moments it didn't even matter how exhausted and bloody he was.

He was overjoyed to see Remus shrieking over his cuts and Lucius yelling at Remus for being a mother hen. He started to grin when Draco and Snape started to yell at him over being so stupid and most of all, he laughed when Draco angrily began to join Remus in surveying his cuts. Yes…it was nice to finally have a home.

After a long bubble bath Harry was once again returned, well more dragged by Draco who insisted his cuts be treated with an antibiotic because he wasn't going to have to chop off Harry's hands because all the cuts got infected and pussy.

The boy who lived was promptly deposited on a couch while Draco fetched bandages and a small vial from Snape's potion table. "Draco, you don't need to worry about me! Honest I'm fine!"

"Shut up," Draco commanded. He stormed back to the couch and dropped a pile of bandages on Quetzal, "hold these." The blonde then snatched up Harry's hand and poked every cut.

"Ouch! Draco quit poking them! It stings!" The teen pouted.

"Duh, they've still got glass in them," Draco growled. He performed a quick charm and the sting vanished. He began to carefully apply the antibiotic to Harry's torn hands.

Harry was waiting for it to hurt or sting, but it never did. He opened his eyes tentatively and looked at Draco, tenderly dabbing a piece of gauze that was damped with the potion on one particularly jagged cut. The blonde was so involved in his work he didn't even notice the warm, smoky emerald eyes that were watching him with such fascination.

Draco's fingers were so soft and gentle…Harry couldn't stop watching them trace of his skin. "What're you looking at?" Draco growled gruffly.

Harry laughed, those harsh words were such a contrast to those soft fingers. Their touch was gentle, yet solid and reassuring…and warm…oddly warm. "I dunno," Harry shrugged. "You look so…interested." His emerald eyes drifted back to those fingers that played over his hand like it was an instrument.

Draco obviously saw something complex and consuming, all Harry saw were a criss cross of angry red cuts to be wrapped up and ignored. "Hey, I just don't want to be the one who ends up chopping off your nasty hands when all these cuts get infected." Draco growled.

"Mm hm, sure." The smaller teen snickered. "I think you just have a hand fetish."

Draco snorted sarcastically, "yeah, like I have a hand fetish." But his eyes never left Harry's hand, and hi fingers never stopped soothing his cuts.

Finally the boy who lived just relaxed into the couch and watched with a warm smile playing on his lips as Draco slaved over both his hands. Both wrapped up in their own little worlds. Draco's consisted of Harry's beautiful, slim, hands and Harry's consisted of how the firelight hit Draco's hair, making it shine and sparkle as bright as any sun.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I sorry the last chapter was so short and boring and sappy. This chapters longer and way more exciting. Ahem, and now I present to you, the chapter in which the short, feminine, cute Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts! Happy new year to all, and I hope everybody had a fab Christmas.

The rest of the summer passed by in a blur of sunsets, magic, and a sense of belonging Harry knew he'd never felt before. He didn't remember what his life had been like before Azkaban….in fact he still didn't remember much of Azkaban. It was mostly just a haze of cold, rage, and fear that lingered in the back of Harry's mind. Some evenings he'd just watch the sun set and try to sort out the blurs of memories in his mind.

Harry didn't feel disoriented or confused…He knew who he was and he knew the important people in his life. But he couldn't remember anything before Azkaban.

Sometimes he would have little flashbacks of a girl with curly brown hair and a group of red heads smiling warmly at him. It was a family…a little family all his own. And then sometimes he saw them laughing demonically at him, screaming, and stoking the flames higher and higher. The white bird was splattered with red and somebody would always be screaming.

Whenever he saw the bird tears would always well in his eyes and whenever he heard that person screaming he want to find them, and hold their hand. Those screams were always so raw and primal…so torn and betrayed.

And those screams, for some reason, reminded him of his late godfather. Sirius…his name was Sirius just like that star in the sky. Any mention of betrayal jerked his mind back towards his godfather. Harry didn't quite understand why his mind was wired like that, he couldn't remember anything specific about Sirius and betrayal…but he knew his god father had been wronged….

Harry now was lying on his bed at Malfoy Manner starring vacantly up at the ceiling, slowly petting the hybrid that was lying on his chest. It was the last night of summer and tomorrow he would be off to Hogwarts. His birthday was the best he'd ever had, although he couldn't remember the other ones….he felt something about this one was special. Whether it was the intense and suffocating feeling of having a real family or watching Remus fall face first into his birthday cake, Harry had no idea. But he knew, deep inside that something that was missing, had been replaced.

Quetzel cooed loudly and Harry looked down at him, "Problem?" He asked the little creature. The silver thing nodded at the door. His master frowned and carefully sat up. Absent mindedly the teen dislodged Quetzal from his chest and set the half breed on the bed, eyes locked on the white door. A thin stream of golden light trailed under the wood and into his dim room. Who would be at the door at midnight? And who would be at his door without knocking….

A low growl rose in Quetzal's throat and a familiar choking feeling rose in Harry's chest. He started to sneeze again. He waited patiently for the sneezes to subside, but they never did. Emerald eyes became red and blurry with tears and an unknown irritation. He doubled over as violent coughs ripped his lungs and tore his throat.

Quetzal's growl turned into a tender coo as he crawled over to his master and tenderly he crawled around Harry's neck. The teen collapsed to his knees clutching his chest, desperately for the sneezes and coughs to stop tearing him open from the inside.

His head swam violently and the room became a blur of greens and whites. Suddenly the sneezes and the coughs subsided and the room a deathly silent for a moment. Harry noticed that the golden light under the door was suddenly marred by a shadow. The handle of the door twisted and dead built in Harry's thick raw throat. He was hit by another violent fit of coughs and fell forward, bracing himself with shaking arms and trembling fingers. Tears blurred his vision and he vaguely saw a humanoid shape enter his room.

The door closed behind the figure and Harry's coughs stopped. The teen didn't notice Quetzel slither down from his neck and under the door. Harry finally peeled his eyes open and saw the white carpet below his mouth stained red. The teen gasped for breath and backed away from the blood he'd spat up. He looked up, eyes a raw irritated red and burning the salt of his tears.

It was a man…or a very tall woman with thick, shining black hair. That shade of Raven made Harry momentarily think it was Snape…but those eyes were a burning shade of red so unnatural that no human could possibly own them.

He knelt before Harry, a smirk twisting his pale lips, "I thought it might be you," He said softly, his voice was strong and powerful. His voice was so harsh and smooth and creamy and thick…it was almost palpable "You do always interrupt my dreams."

Harry's eyes cleared a little bit and pale, pretty features swam into his vision. He yelped and scrambled back from the Dark Lord who currently kneeling in the spot of carpet that was soaked red with Harry's blood. Pale blue lips curled into a smirk and his garnet eyes narrowed. "I thought Lucius would betray me, he was always such a selfish man."

"You stay the hell away from him!" Harry snapped instinctively. He was still gasping for breath and his eyes were still teary, he was clutching his chest, and he was sitting on his ass, obviously far weaker then the powerful man kneeling in front of him. Despite it all Harry was never going to back down, he would never let Voldemort get the last word and he would never let that snake bastard hurt anybody important to him again.

"Little Harry's telling me what to do?" Voldemort snickered. "Please, Harry. We both know you can't do anything to help him."

"Why are you such a coward!" The boy who lived hissed suddenly. "You want me! I ruined you, I fucked up your stupid death curse!" He reached out and jerked the wand that hung in Voldemorts free hand over his own heart and faced surprised fiery eyes with reckless emerald ones. "Now all you have to do is say the word and you win!"

Voldemort was silent. He looked at the wand and then at Harry's exposed heart. All he had to do was say the words…and Harry Potter would be no more…He wanted to kill the boy, he wanted Harry Potter dead…but….

"What else could you possibly want?" Harry whispered sadly. He honestly couldn't comprehend what was happening. Voldemort should've said Ada Kevarda…Harry should be dead. But he was still alive, and doubt still clouded those red eyes. The teen fixed his gaze on the floor miserably, did he really want Voldemort to kill him that badly? It was good that Voldemort didn't want him dead…right?

"Killing you doesn't seem just." Voldemort finally said. "You aren't good enough for that."

Harry's eyes widened and he looked up from the floor. "What…."

In a blur the taller man yanked Harry to his feet by his shirt and flung the teen against the wall. The teen hacked dark red blood and before he crumpled to the floor he was pinned to the wall by a body much larger and stronger then his own. Eyes of fire burned into his own eyes and Harry mewed weakly in protest.

"You murderer, you cheating lying bastard." Voldemort snarled. Harry tried to face Voldemorts' dark accusing eyes, but he couldn't. His arms suddenly felt so heavy and his legs were like bricks. His heart pounded violently in his chest, threatening to rise in his throat. Bile boiled in the pit of his stomach.

"What did I ever do to you," Harry managed to rasp.

"You left me alone with that bitch," The Dark Lord hissed, smacking Harry roughly. "You let her kill me, you let her die."

Emerald eyes swam out of focus and his world swam in violent harsh shades of crimson. "I don't know what you're talking about," Harry spat. "I never did a thing to you."

The Dark Lord slammed Harry's head against the wall with a snarl, "liar!" For a moment the boy who lived saw stars flash around Lord Voldemorts' head and he groaned. "I know what you did to me, I remember it all." The taller man's voice echoed in Harry's mind, and for a moment Harry recognized it from somewhere, where had that voice came to him before? Of course he knew Voldemort's familiar rasp…but suddenly it had changed, it was deeper, richer, so familiar, so painfully familiar.

"I'm the fucking victim here, you sick bastard!" Harry hissed. A sudden wave of anger overrode his exhaustion and fear. His vision cleared, just for a moment, and rage tingled through his blood. His skin was boiling with heat and his face reddened. Slender fingers wrapped around Voldemorts' throat. A wild scream escaped the taller man's throat as his skin started to black and writhe underneath the throtteling grip.

He fell back from Harry, screaming and clutching his throat. The skin was smoking and charred where Harry's hands had been wrapped just seconds before. In a moment of strength Harry stood upright and a single thought filled his mind as Voldemort lay on the floor writhing. He wanted Voldemort to die. He wanted to never see those burning red eyes again or hear that disgusting rasp in his dreams again. He wanted to be free from the nightmare that haunted his mind in day and night.

The air around Voldemort started to hiss and crackle as if it were on fire and his screams were renewed. Harry's emerald eyes never left the writhing body and he smiled grimly in triumph. He was right, he was being just. He was killing a murderer. Images of Bellatrix's broken corpse flooded his mind.

The teen fell back against the wall, drowning in emotions he couldn't name. He didn't feel bad for killing Bellatrix, he was right and she was wrong. He looked back at Voldemort and clutched his skull. He was doing it again! Murdering another person, but was he right for killing? Was he reducing himself to their level? Was he becoming a murderer?

The door bust open and the habitants of Malfoy Manner stood in the door in various states of undress. They all stopped still at the gruesome sight in the room. Harry clutching his knees to his chest, leaning against the wall, eyes fixed on a dead, smoking snake that lay in a huge pool of blood in the center of the room. The pool of blood was far to wide for a snake that small…the creature wasn't any larger then Quetzal.

"Is it right to kill a murderer?" Harry asked softly.

Lucius whirled around and dashed to the fire place in the room, gears in his mind whirling. SnakeVoldemort, if Voldemort knew Harry was at Malfoy Manner then he also knew that Lucius was a traitor. He quickly made up a fire and called Dumbledore.

Meanwhile Snape was disposing of the snakes body while Remus and Draco coaxed Harry from his fetal position at the wall.

"Harry…" Draco asked carefully. "Come over here,"

The teen on the floor shook his head. "Is it right to kill a murderer?"

"Harry listen to me," Remus murmured softly, "Murder isn't right or wrong. Nobody can justify taking another persons life away, be it through murder or imprisonment. But nobody can say it's wrong."

"How can it not be wrong?"

"Because nothing is right or wrong, those are just words Harry, they can't rule your actions. It's like describing you by just saying your Harry Potter, it just can't be done."

Harry looked up at the werewolf, and then back at the dead snake. "But he said I hurt him."

Draco loosed an exasperated sigh and tramped across the room. Harry looked up at him with growing confusion. Suddenly the taller boy yanked his arm, "The man's a delusional nut case who gets turned on by torturing people, I don't think you should listen to a thing the psycho says."

"Really?"

"Stop being so insecure!" The blonde snarled. "Now haul your ass up and get dressed, we need to go now."

"But what if I'm a murderer!" Harry insisted stubbornly.

Draco whirled and around to face Harry, eyes icy and demanding, "So what if you are,"

Harry looked up at Draco in a mixture of shock and confusion, eagerly waiting and dreading the aristocrats' next words.

Draco's eyes softened and he said warmly, "The Harry I know doesn't give a rats' ass about what other people think of him." Harry let Draco haul pull him to his feet and he let Draco dump a pile of clothes into his arms

Harry changed numbly and finally he settled on a thought. _I'll think about it tomorrow. _So he let the dead snake on the ground drift out of his mind and let his physical needs in. He was hungry…really, really hungry. "I'm hungry."

Remus grinned weakly and gestured towards the fire place with his head. "Well come on, kiddo, we're outta here."

"Where are we going?"

"King Cross train station," Snape yawned irritably.

"Why?" Harry asked in an adorably clueless way.

"Well we can't stay here," Lucius growled. "Voldemort probably won't try another attack so close to the Diagon alley one."

XoXoXoXo

Fifteen minutes later the group was sitting at King Cross train station on a wooden bench. Harry was happily sitting on the floor, sipping a steaming hot chocolate, Remus was lost in his thoughts, eyes vacant and fearful. Lucius's mind was whizzing through ideas, situations, consequences. Snape was snapping at anything anybody said, and Draco was still coping with the shock of being discovered by Voldemort.

"So we wait here till the morning train comes?" The blonde asked with a yawn. His exhaustion was beginning to override his numbness and fear.

"Yes." Severus snapped.

"But it's only like midnight," Draco pouted. "Trains not till eight."

"Well entertain yourself!" Snape growled.

"…But I'm bored."

"Go play on the train tracks."

Harry yawned and lay down on the floor, head pillowed by his tangled hair. The teen quickly slipped into a dreamless sleep as Draco watched the adorable little teen in confusion. Because it wasn't everyday you just saw somebody randomly decide to lay down and sleep…something fishy was going on. The blonde eyes the adults on the bench beside him suspiciously.

"Get some sleep Draco," Lucius said surly.

"But first have some hot chocolate." Remus handed the blonde teen a steaming coffee cup and Draco sipped it eagerly. It was warm and good. His muscles started to relax and he leaned against the bench.

"Hey, what was in the hot chocolate?" Draco growled drousily.

"Sleeping drought," The werewolf said cheerily, "It's time for the students to get their beauty sleep."

Draco murmured thickly, "I'm pretty without sleep," and then his head promptly rolled forward onto his knees where he fell fast asleep.

The adults on the bench loosed a sigh of relief, the children were asleep, they could finally get down to business.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Remus asked as he slipped down to sit on the floor. He started to root

"Nothing useful, he frowned and said to take the train to Hogwarts." Lucius shrugged. "Bloody wanker."

"The Dark Lord found us," Snape growled. "I don't think you realize this, wolf-boy, but that means my cover is blown. If he knows Lucius is a traitor he'll automatically assume I'm one to."

Remus stood up and milled around their trunks, checking to make sure they had essentials such as money and clothes. "Not necessarily…" He pondered, "But he will be suspicious of you Severus."

"How clever of you," Snape hissed sarcastically.

"We're all tired," Remus growled, as he absent mindedly rooted through Lucius' trunk. He didn't even realize that he was folding the messy tangle of clothe he found in the blondes trunk. "Please be a little considerate."

Snape growled, opened his mouth to respond, and then settled for crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Remus. "Something needs to be done about Harry."

"What's wrong with him?" The werewolf asked stiffly. His fingers trembled on the shirt he held. With a swallow Remus continued to fold clothes. He didn't understand why he was folding Lucius' clothes…it was relaxing somehow, something so simple and domestic. There were no complications to folding clothes, no right or wrong way to fold them.

"He can perform wandless magic." Snape stated.

"Good."

"You know what they do to wizards who can perform wandless magic?" Sanpe said, voice still that same smooth deadpan.

Remus shuddered and looked down at the clothes. They….nobody knew who they were, the secret enforcers of the wizarding worlds' hypocritical laws. They traveled swiftly and quietly, they made no sound, they only killed and stole. They were the ones who stole Sirius away from him. "The unspeakables," Remus acknowledged shakily.

Lucius' silver eyes darted from Remus to Sanpe and then rested on the slender werewolf. He quickly decided which to protect, "The unspeakables haven't emerged in years Severus."

"They're always here, and they're always watching." The greasy haired man sighed, "You've seen them."

"You saw them!" The werewolf asked with a gasp. He whirled to face the uncomfortable looking blonde. "They can't be seen…they're invisible…."

"No," Lucius said softly, his eyes glazed over and he looked down at the dirty floor. "They wear black robes with black hoods, if you didn't know better they'd look like death eaters. But they don't wear the skull masks….their faces are pale as death and their eyes are as dark as night and glow from the shadow of their hoods. They walk in rows, they never miss a step, they never trip or stumble."

Remus looked away from the aristrocrat and went back to folding clothing, hands trembling on the fabric, and eyes glistening from fear. "How did you see them?"

"I was visiting my uncle over the summer. My younger brother and I. My uncle, he was researching the unspeakables, re-reading testimony's he'd stolen from the ministry…But when he finally stumbled up on what they really were…the doors and windows all bust open and he told my brother and I to run. I hid in the piano and my younger brother hid underneath a table. They came…I saw them through a whole in the wood of the piano.

"They murdered him, not using an unforgivable. One turned to my brother and lifted his hood. Then they left….I don't know how they got in or how they left. But I remember the beating of their footsteps…I remember how my brother screamed after that…my uncle was dead on the floor…he was bleeding, but I couldn't find any cuts on him…"

"There is only one killing curse Lucius." Remus growled. "That's not possible, there is only one….only one."

"No Remus," The icy blonde murmured sadly. "There are more then one. And only the unspeakables know them all."

"But the ministry-"

"advocates them," Lucius finished for the werewolf.

"So what do we do?" The amber eyed man asked weakly.

"We protect Harry and we keep his magic hidden from Dumbledore." Snape sighed.

Lucius pondered a moment. They did need to protect Harry because, for some unknown reason the Dark Lord was obsessed with the boy. This obsession would ultimately lead to the Dark Lords demise…but in the meantime. How did they deal with such a powerful being? "How can we protect him if he's at Hogwarts."

"We go with him." Both Remus and Snape said in unison.

Lucius sighed and rested head against the back of the bench and looked up at the roof, mind buzzing and body exhausted. "Who's the new defense against the dark arts teacher, they fired the one from last year right?"

"No," Snape sighed, "The idiots still there."

"Rhapsody, right?" asked Remus, "Thomas Rhapsody, a few years ago he did some pro-werewolf work."

"He's still an idiot," Snape muttered darkly. "Last year he took his 7th year class for a hike in the dark forest. Rhapsody wanted to run into some vampires, for educational purposes. Well they found their vampires, one of the students got bitten."

"It's illegal to intentionally expose minors to vampires," Remus gasped, "oh god…how come he didn't get fired!"

"All the student's memories were altered, none of them remembered the vampire portion of the trip. Dumbledore gave Rhapsody a slap on the wrist and then told him not to take anymore hikes."

"There's something wrong about that," the amber eyed man sighed.

"I'm sure Rhapsody works for the ministry," Lucius growled. He relaxed on the bench, toying with his platinum hair, slim fingers braiding and unbraiding it.

"I have a bad feeling about Hogwarts." Sanpe admitted grouchily. "Something is going to happen."

"Something always happens when Harry's there," Remus said, voice dripping with sarcasm, "All you can do is hang on and let the beast run its course, because something bad is going to happen…and there's nothing any of us can do to stop it."

XoXoXoXo

A/N: so they didn't quiet make it back to Hoggy warts. Sorry, please don't chase after me with pointed sticks. Anywho, I think I'm coming back to fan fic for a while so huzzah! Midterms are over, praise jesus. So now maybe I'll have some free time.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: ….wow….it must be a miracle, I'm updating! I'm sorry I never update….ever…but I'm on vacation and I have lotsa time so updates!

When Harry James Potter woke up, it was to an achy neck and a foot in his face. He sat up, rubbing his head and groaned. The boy who lived quickly took a survey of his environment.

He was sitting on the cold, hard ground of King Cross train station, a multitude of muggles were bustling around, hardly giving him a second look. The said foot in his face belong to one Remus Lupin who was sprawled on a bench with his head on Lucius Malfoy's shoulder. The platinum haired ex-death eater had a thin trail of drool running from his gaping mouth. Severus Snape, his potions teacher and ex-least favorite teacher was also sitting on the same bench, arms over his chest, head slumped over, snoring softly.

Harry grinned at his newfound family, it was funny to think that a year ago Sev and Lucius were his enemies. He sighed and attempted to finger-brush his hair. They'd all been tricked, they'd been manipulated by Dumbledore. A familiar blaze of rage surged in Harry's chest….Dumbledore…

"Mmm….bleedin' buffalo…" A thick voice mumbled beside him. Harry glanced over and found Draco Malfoy, fast asleep, head on his knees, murmuring about buffalo.

As quickly as it came his rage departed, leaving Harry feeling warm and comfortable. The boy who lived was finally happy, but he knew better then most that happiness can't last.

_I want this to last, _Harry thought sadly, _I want them to stay. _"I promise I'll do whatever I can…to protect us." He whispered quietly, a soft promise between himself and whatever angel had kept him alive thus far. There had to be someone watching out for him, other wise Harry would've been dead by now. And he prayed that this kind-hearted angel would watch over the ones he cared for as well. Quetzal cooed from around his neck and licked his cheek in greeting.

Snape groaned and elbowed Remus, who awoke with a start.

"Morning, Harry," The werewolf yawned. He checked the large clock hanging on the wall nearby and elbowed Lucius in the ribs, "Wake up, trains in fifteen minutes."

"It is?" Harry asked with interest, "Is there food?"

"Yupp," Draco yawned. He stood up and stretched his arms with feline grace that came naturally to him.

"Yummy," He mumbled and stumbled to his own feet.

The tired, grumpy, bunch of wizards dressed in muggle clothes stumbled through the usual wall, all smiling at Harry's excitement that he was going through a wall. They regrouped on platform 4 and ¾ none the worse, all enjoying Harry's interest in the wizarding world around him.

"Oooh Draco! Where're we gonna sit?" Harry exclaimed, he was practically bouncing.

"With the Slytherins," the tired blonde responded.

"…But I'm in Gryffindor, right?"

Draco stiffened, thoughts wondering back to those Gryffindor bastards who'd betrayed Harry. It was a funny feeling to be worried about Harry Potter, the boy who he'd always envied and hated. But he really wanted to hurt the Gryffindor's for hurting Harry. "Yeah well," he growled, turning to storm onto the train.

"Where's Remus going?"

"Teachers car,"

"Oh."

Harry followed Draco through the train, ignoring the glances of curiosity that were shot his way. "Draco why's everyone looking at us?" Harry whispered in his friends ear.

The blonde sighed, "They don't recognize you, just ignore them."

"um…Are they my friends?"

Friends, who had been Harry Potter's friends? Ron and Hermione, Draco supposed Harry was amicable with his house mates. But everybody was weary of the boy who lived and the chaos that followed him and all those close to him. Everyone kept their distance from Harry Potter. Again Draco seethed. "No, they're not your friends."

"That's good. They all look kinda boring," Harry laughed.

That laugh made Draco smile as well.

It was infectious.

The pair finally reached the end of the train where Draco carefully opened the last compartment on the left side of the train. Inside sat a boy and two girls, laughing at something one of the girls said.

"Draco!" The blonde one squealed, leaping up and hugging him. "I was worried they found you! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Pansy, I'm sorry I didn't write," Draco laughed easily. He looked so much more relaxed around these people. He must've known them from somewhere. Harry thought he knew them…he could've sworn he'd seen them somewhere.

"Whose that?" Another girl asked, a brunette with startling bright grey eyes.

"Oh, this is Harry."

A heavy blanket of silence fell on the car.

"Harry Potter?" the boy finally asked.

Suddenly it seemed to dawn on Draco that he was bringing Harry Potter, golden boy of Gryffindor to the Slytherin car. His expression would've been funny if the situation wasn't so tense.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Harry said with one of his more charming smiles.

"You know us." The blonde girl stated.

"Well I don't remember you at all, I don't really remember that much."

The blonde girl turned to Draco trying to decide if this was a joke or not, "Draco is he serious?"

"Harry's been staying with me all summer. He doesn't remember much about Hogwarts." Draco sighed in explanation. "Look I know it doesn't make much sense, but please just let him stay with us."

The Slytherins in the car all looked equally confused, anxious, and worried for Draco's mental well being. Finally the blonde girl sighed, "I'm Pansy."

"I'm Milly." The brunette girl said sullenly.

"Blaise." The dark haired boy said, raking a hand though his hair angrily. "So you really don't remember anything?" He asked Harry suspiciously.

Draco sat down next to Blaise and Harry seemed to sort of curl up next to Draco so that he took up as little space as possible. "Knock it of, Blaise," Draco growled.

"What? I'm just asking a question." The dark haired boy sneered. "Well, Potter?"

"I don't remember much about Hogwarts, I just remember a castle with four different houses."

"You don't know what year you're in?" Pansy asked incrediously.

"Year? What's that?"

"He's in 7th year just like the rest of us!" Draco snarled protectively. "Stop picking on him!"

"Harry, do you know what house you're in?" Milly asked slowly, not as openly hostile as the other two Slytherins, she was instead cautious about this new addition to their car.

"I dunno," Harry said with a shrug and a toss of his shining dark curls, "Does it really matter?"

"Your house is everything! All the houses compete against each other to earn points and whoever earns the most points gets the house cup!" Milly explained. "There are also rivalries between the houses, especially Gryffindor and Slytherin."

Gryffindor, the word hit Harry like a box of rocks.

Suddenly he saw a huge fire, eating up clothes, pictures, books, and papers. Someone was screaming and crying, what a horrible, heart wrenching scream. They were holding him back, they were making him watch everything he owned burn. They made him watch the flames lick the photograph of his parents, of Sirius. He watched as the fire consumed everything those photographs which he loved so much, and for the second time he lost whatever family he had.

"Harry!" Someone was yelling.

He could barely hear the voice over the roar of the flames.

"Harry!"

Someone was shaking him.

"What?" Harry asked, glancing around, he was in the car on the train. There was no fire. Where was that fire from? "Oh, sorry, I spaced out again didn't I?"

"What did you remember?" Draco asked with a sigh. He'd become rather accustomed to Harry remembering events completely out of sequence if they were triggered by a word or phrase.

"Just a fire," The Gryffindor said with a weak smile, "Nothing important, right?"

Another hush fell on the car.

"Right?"

"You really don't remember," Pansy whispered in awe. "You don't remember the fire?"

"What fire?" Harry asked.

"At the end of 5th year," Milly explained tenderly, "Everyone thought you were a spy for The Dark Lord,"

"Milly, stop!" Draco snapped, "he doesn't need to hear this!"

"No, Milly, tell me please." The smaller teen insisted.

"He needs to know Draco," The brunette said quietly, Draco fell silent and nodded to Milly.

"The Gryffindors turned on you. They burnt everything of yours, everything you touched in a huge bonfire. They made you watch and then they killed that pretty owl of yours….and then they handed you to Dumbledore." Milly explained. "I'm sorry, Harry."

For a few minutes the boy who lived was completely silent. The information was sinking slowly in. Finally he asked in a weak, shaken voice, "What about my friends? They stood up for me right?"

Draco sucked in a harsh breath, barely resisting the urge to storm out of the car, find Weasly and Granger, and strangle them. "No Harry. It was that fuckin' weasel who first spread the rumor that you were a spy."

"The Weasel? The one with red hair…" Harry said in a strangely emotionless voice. "He was my friend?"

"He was. And he sold you out," Pansy growled. "I hate those Weasels, they're the ones who started all the rumors about you anyway. None of us Slytherins believed a word of them. We knew you weren't a spy!"

"Oh," was all Harry said. He began to chew softly on his lower lip and after a few minutes he looked up with a small smile. "Well then it's a good thing I don't remember him do I?"

Blaise coughed a laugh, "That's the spirit, Harry."

"Hey, Harry, there's a cart out there with chocolate and stuff, wanna go grab something?" Draco asked, offering the smaller teen a few gold coins. Harry shot a questioning look at the blonde but never the less took the money and stood up with a smile, asking if anyone wanted anything. The Slytherins politely declined and then Harry slipped out of the cabin, wondering why Draco wanted him to leave for a few minutes.

"Jesus Hell, Milly! Did you have to traumatize him!" Draco growled.

"He needs know, Draco! You should have prepared him! He can't just wonder into Gryffindor tower thinking those two timing rats are his friends!" Milly protested. Once again Harry's charming insecurities and vulnerability managed to win him another follower.

"Draco I still don't understand why you're taking care of him." Blaise interrupted. "He's a Gryffindor, he's Potter!"

Draco immediately leap to Harry's rescue, "His name is Harry! He's a bloody person! You can't just judge him on the basis that he's a Gryffindor!"

"You really care about him," Blaise sighed. Again he brushed his dark hair from his eyes and glared at the blonde. "What do you want us to do, adopt him?"

Draco nodded earnestly.

"Draco he's a Gryffindor!" Pansy sighed. "He's cute, and I'm sure he's a sweet kid, but we can't befriend a Gryffindor! Especially not Harry Potter, he's nothing but trouble."

The blonde teen grinned despite himself and rolled his eyes, "Don't I know it?"

"Pansy I think we should give Harry a chance," Milly cut in, ignoring Pansy's protests. "He's not like the other Gryffindors, and Draco trusts him."

"Still, he won't be anything but trouble," Pansys insisted stubbornly.

"But welcome trouble," Milly said with a small smile.

It was at this point that Harry slipped back into the car carrying as much chocolate as he could carry. "I'm hungry," The small teen said in explanation with a huge grin.

"Gimmie some," Draco smirked, reaching out to grab a bar from Harry's hand only to have it snatched away.

"No! Mine! Get your own!"

"Snarky little Gryffindor," Draco grumbled.

"Hey, I offered to get you something! But you said you weren't hungry."

And unfortunately Draco couldn't argue with that.

The Slytherins and their new addition didn't run into anymore trouble until they came to the great hall. At which point they became unsure of what to actually do with Harry. Draco would honestly hit Dumbledore before he let Harry sit at the Gryffindor table and surprisingly the other Slytherin's also were loath to let Harry anywhere near the other Gryffindors.

Finally Pansy suggested Harry just sit with them and everyone else agreed to the plan.

Harry found himself seated at the Slytherin table between Draco and Milly. The dark haired teen was watching the sorting hat procession with wide eyes, because this was sort of the first time he'd ever seen it, considering he didn't remember the majority of his life before Azkaban.

Once all the first years were sorted Dumbledore stood to make his usual yearly speech. Harry tuned it out and instead chose to thumb wrestle Draco until he hear the old man say his name.

"And this year, students, our wrongly-convicted Harry Potter is here to join us once again," All eyes rested on the Gryffindor table, expecting Harry to stand up.

"I'm over here, Professor," Harry growled loudly with surprisingly audacity. He could easily switch from being an angry and forceful adult to a sociable and friendly teenager.

Now all eyes jerked to the Slytherin table where Harry got to his feet, crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the hall for all it was worth.

"Mr. Potter, why are you not at your house table?"

Elegantly Harry raised an eyebrow, a trick he'd stolen from Snape, "Do I really need to explain?"

Now a hush of guilt fell over the hall. Everyone who'd participated in the terrible bonfire was chastised because here sat the victim of their malicious cruelty.

"You know the rules, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore insisted calmly. "You must sit with your house."

"Then I'd like to switch houses."

"Not possible, Mr. Potter, please go and sit with your house."

Up at the teachers table Remus, Severus, and Lucius looked about as eager as Draco to get up and physically prevent Harry from switching to the Gryffindor table. Harry couldn't help but smile, it felt good to have a family again. These people were willing to protect him, but there was a correct time and place to accept that protection, and this was not it.

Harry had to do this on his own.

"I'll meet up with you outside Slytherin common room after the feast," Harry whispered quietly.

"You can't go over there, Harry!" Draco growled.

"Call us if you need help," Milly said firmly.

"What!" Draco growled.

"Thanks," Harry grinned and extricated himself from the Slytherin table. He stopped for a moment, he had to do this right. He had to walk over to that table like he owned this school, this was his only chance to show everyone their place. They couldn't hurt him anymore.

And Harry took one step forward, and then another, and slowly he made his way towards the Gryffindor table. There was a predatory look in his eyes, despite his slim form and girlish hair he looked utterly dangerous and masculine. Harry Potter was no longer a victim.

Two students who Harry didn't recognize moved over so Harry could sit between them. He did and the boy who lived turned with a defiant glare at Dumbledore.

"Well," Dumbledore began, "As I said before Harry will be rejoining us this year. He has been declaimed completely innocent of the crimes he was previously accused of, so I would like you all to be welcoming to him and help him around."

Harry ignored the rest of the speech, he hated Dumbledore. Dumbledore put him in Azkaban. Things were slowly starting to piece together, but Harry still couldn't figure out what Voldemort was planning. But he did know he couldn't trust Dumbledore. Harry sighed, he couldn't let himself be taken advantage of by the Gryffindors, the only people he could trust were his Slytherins, Severus, Remus, and Lucius. As long as he was careful he could avoid a trap.

He would not let himself become a victim ever, ever again.

The trick of it was to let everyone else think he was still a helpless little lamp.

A/N: reviews? Please and thank you.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: oh wow reviews! Thank you all so much, it's so fun waking up and checking your e-mail and finding reviews. Hah, here's a new fun chapter, featuring everyones favorite bitches, Ron and Hermione. How will our darling Harry cope?

Oh and TeeDee pointed out that at the end of the last chapter I call Harry a lamp. I'm very sorry, I meant to type lamb. Harry I'm sorry I called you a lamp. I repeat, Harry is not a lamp, he is an ex-lamb.

That is all, now here is your chapter.

Dumbledore's tiresome monologue ended quickly enough. Harry sighed in relief and glanced back at the Slytherin table where Draco looked murderous, Blaise looked confused, Pansy was mildly irritated, and Milly was simultaneously trying to calm down Draco and smile comfortingly at Harry. It was quiet a sight.

"Harry!" Someone shrieked. Suddenly someone was hugging him tightly and there was a bush of curly brown hair in his eyes. The girl pulled back at beamed at him. Harry felt his heart leap into his throat and his stomach sink, he knew this girl. She was his friend, she was the one who told Dumbledore he was a spy. Hermione…her name was Hermione. For a moment emotions completely overwhelmed Harry, he simultaneously wanted to cry, scream, hit her, run away, and laugh.

Instead Harry settled for a grin and asked, "Who are you?"

"Harry?" She gasped, "It's me, Hermione!"

"Um, sorry I just can't remember much from before….So who are you?"

"You…don't remember?" Hermione said with dread, and then her face bloomed into a smile. "Oh, Harry you poor thing! Ron and I were so angry when Dumbledore said you were a spy! We even came to your trial and testified for you!"

"You did?" Harry said, with wide innocent eyes and a smile, "That was so brave of you!"

"I can't believe they put you in Azkaban! Oh are you alright, Harry?"

"I'm fine, I just don't remember much about Hogwarts or Azkaban," as always a shiver ran down his spine whenever anyone mentioned Azkaban.

"Well stay away from those nasty Slytherins," Hermione told him in a hushed tone. "I bet it was that horrible Draco Malfoy who spread all those rumors about you, him and those nasty Slytherins."

Harry just barely managed to resist the urge to punch her right in the lip. "Who're the Slytherins?"

"Omigod Harry!" Another girl shrieked. Suddenly there was a petite redhead latched to his shoulders. "We missed you so much!"

Harry smiled and patted her head gently, "Do I know you?"

"Harry, it's me! Ginny!"

Images flashed through Harry's mind. This girl, this Ginny, carrying his photo album and tossing it into the fire, giggling and laughing, shrieking about how Harry deserved to die, he deserved to rot in Azkaban for lying to all of them. And then suddenly he was in the present, desperate to push this disgusting bitch of him and run as far away as he possibly could.

"Ginny, he doesn't remember," Hermione whispered.

"Ooooh," Ginny whispered back grinning, "So we can just tell him whatever?"

"Yeah, everything will be just like it used to be."

"Harry, I'm Ginny," She said loudly to Harry, "Do you remember me?"

"Not really," Harry managed to grin out between clenched teeth.

"Oh, Harry I'm so happy they realized you were innocent! We all missed you so much!" She gushed.

"Harry?" Another red head asked, this one was a boy…this was….Ron.

"Hi," Harry said carefully, "Who are you?"

"D-Don't you remember me? It's me! Ron! Your best friend!"

Harry smiled blankly and shook his head, "Sorry, I can't remember much, but you'll be my friend right?"

"Of course!" Ron sighed in relief, hugging his friend tightly, thanking whatever god he believed in that Harry didn't remember.

And so Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, wedged between Ron and Hermione, half listening to them talk about the past. For a moment Harry felt a tinge to regret, he almost wished he could still be friends with these people, he almost wished he could just pretend that the fire have never happened.

But then he remembered parts fire, the screams, his own screams, as he watched them giggle and burn everything he own, his glasses, his clothes, his books, photographs. They killed his owl, they stabbed it and then threw the corpse at him.

He gagged and then covered his nausea with a laugh. He had to make them believe he was still a victim. They would never know that Harry knew he'd been betrayed by his best friends.

Finally the feast ended and Harry was caught up in a pack of Gryffindors and shuffled to Gryffindor Tower. It seemed like none of them minded he had been sitting at the Slytherin table, they all chalked it up to Harry's memory loss. By the end of dinner, everyone at Hogwarts knew Harry lost his memory.

As Harry sat in the common room being fawned over by his old friends, asking him questions, talking to him, apologizing for what happened. Harry could see the sparkle of guilt in their eyes, he sensed the tiny awkward pauses. They all knew what they'd done and not one of them was human enough to even say 'I'm sorry'.

Professor McGonagall entered the common room, asking to speak with Harry. The dark haired teen followed her to her office. "Harry, I understand you don't remember what happened?"

"What happened when?"

"Before your trial…when…when…" McGonagall trailed off.

Harry wanted to tell her yes, yes he knew what happened, he knew his friends betrayed him. Everyone he trusted betrayed him. But instead Harry with a dark, twisted sense of pride said with a smile and glint in his eyes, "No, Professor, should I remember something?"

"No, no, Harry. It is nothing that needs to be remembered."

_Coward_, Harry seethed. _You think I don't know, you would just let me be eaten by those monsters! _"Great professor, I'll see you tomorrow in class."

"Goodnight Harry," She said with a heavy voice, her conscious was crawling over her skin, guilt gnawing at her mind. "Goodnight."

Harry slipped out of her office and took off down the hall, going the opposite way from Gryffindor tower. He found himself wondering down a hallway, and suddenly he realized, he didn't remember where he was. He was completely lost.

He needed to find Quetzal too, Remus said he'd take care of the little hybrid and Harry was beginning to really miss the little guy. Harry sighed and looked around, the hall was decorated with paintings, he had an odd feeling about them, like there was something odd about them.

"Are you lost?" A voice asked.

Harry yelped and jumped around to see a painting of a woman talking to him, "Er, hello?"

"Oh, are you a first year?"

"No, my names Harry,"

"Harry Potter!" The painting gasped, "You look so….cute."

"Oh thank you?"

"Here, darling, are you lost?"

"Yeah, I can't remember much about Hogwarts, so I don't really know where to go." Harry explained.

"Well where are you trying to get?"

"I'm trying to find Sev-Professor Snape."

"Just go down this hall and you'll see a huge stairway, just go down and turn down the left hallway," She smiled at him, "If you need help just ask a painting."

Harry thanked the woman and followed her instructions. He saw the stairs when he heard voices coming towards him. Glancing around desperately, an arm grabbed Harry's collar and suddenly the teen was yanked into the dark. Harry gasped and spun around to find Draco glaring at him.

"Draco!' Harry yelped, "What was that for?  
"Shush!" Draco whispered. He placed an ear against the door of the closet they were in, Harry crouched on the ground and also listened at the door.

"We can't trust him!" A loud male voice insisted.

"Be quiet Ron! Someone might hear you," it was Hermione.

"He's still a spy, I know he is! He betrayed us!" Ron insisted.

"Ron he doesn't remember anything! Not the fire, not us. This is our chance to start over again! We can be friends again. You know how Harry is, he always tries to save his friends, we can live through this whole war as long as we're on his side."

"But what if Voldemort wins?"

"Then we crawl to him on our hands and knees and told him we were trying to help him. We'll say we tried to put Harry in Azkaban so he wouldn't make trouble for him." Hermione insisted, "Listen, Ron, I've got it all thought out."

"Bitch," Draco snarled quietly.

Harry had to agree. Even though he was essentially doing the same thing to Ron and Hermione it still stung to know they were using him. "Shush, Draco, they're still talking."

"Fine, Hermione, but I still don't trust him."

"You don't have to, but watch him closely. If we can find anything, anything that seems suspicious about Harry we should tell Thomas. Then he can take care of it."

"I wonder where he went, though." Ron mused.

"Who cares? He's not our friend anymore, Ron. This is a war, and it's every man for himself." Hermione lectured angrily, she continued down the hall towards Gryffindor tower.

"But Hermione, you're a girl."

"You're missing the point." Hermione sighed.

Their voices grew fainter and fainter until neither Draco nor Harry could hear anything. The hall was silent. Draco opened the door and peeked into the hall, it was empty. He and Harry emerged from the closet in silence.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Draco sighed.

The boy who lived just grinned, "Don't be, I'm lying to them as well. Besides, I don't remember much about them before the fire."

The blonde rolled his eyes, "Well I'm glad you told them you don't want anything more to do with them."

Harry cocked his head at Draco, "No, I pretended I didn't remember anything about them betraying me."

Draco's mouth dropped and his eyes widened to the size of melons, "You what!"

"As long as they think I don't remember anything, they won't be suspicious of my actions."

"But Harry that's just stupid! Why would they be suspicious!"

"Draco someone set me up as a spy, someone planted evidence, and someone convicted me. Someone in my house must've been involved. There's something big going on here, Draco. This goes beyond Voldemort and I, I don't know what it is. But something terrible has happened at Hogwarts."

Harry nervously crossed his arms over his chest and shivered slightly. This new development frightened him, he had to act extra-stupid around Ron and Hermione, they were looking for some reason to get him. But who was this Thomas?

A sudden warmth across his shoulders surprised the small teen out of his thoughts. Harry looked up to find himself pressed against Draco's warm body. "Draco?"

The blonde smirked and ruffled the smaller teens dark curls, "Stop thinking so much. All we can do is watch and wait, every thing will fall into place."

"I hope so," Harry said quietly.

"I won't let them hurt you…not again." Draco murmured. "C'mon. You can stay in Slytherin for the night, I don't trust those Gryffindors."

"Neither do I," The smaller teen agreed. Harry glanced over his shoulder at the long empty hallway behind them. As he and Draco walked towards Slytherin tower, Harry got a terrible feeling that someone was watching them. Someone knew Draco cared about Harry.

Harry sighed and relaxed against Draco's arm, "I won't let them hurt you either." He whispered.

"Did you say something?" Draco asked.

"No, you must be hearing things."

XoXoXo

The next morning no one at the Gryffindor table mentioned that Harry spent the night outside of the dorm, either they hadn't noticed or had chose not to notice. It was their first day of classes, and Harry honestly didn't remember what he was supposed to do so Ron and Hermione shuffled him around from class to class. Harry pretended to be silly and cute and they pretended they gave a damn about him. There were a few instances where their emotions were actually genuine and it was those moments that stung Harry's heart. He wanted so badly, for reasons he didn't quiet understand, to be friends with these two people.

The morning was boring, dull classes, it was only after lunch that the day became interesting. Their first class was potions, which was with the Slytherins. Snape was teaching and he was paticuliarly cruel to Ron and Hermione. Harry hid his grins behind his hand.

Snape asked him and Draco to stay after class. Harry told Ron and Hermione he'd meet them in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Harry," Snape growled, "Why are you speaking to them!"

"I told them I didn't remember anything."

"…You don't do you?"

"Bits and pieces, mostly about the fire," Harry said calmly. "Milly told me what happened."

"Oh," Snape sighed. "Wouldn't it be easier if you just ignored them?"

Harry grinned, "Of course! But it's not just about them, as long as everything thinks I've completely lost my memory, they'll be less suspicious of me. And then I'll be able to figure out who set me up."

Snape shook his head, "Clearly it was just an accident, Harry. We are at war…and during war people become more paranoid and judgmental then usual. Your incarceration was an unfortunate accident."

"No it wasn't!" The small Gryffindor insisted, eyes blazing, "There is something going on here, some plot! Me and Draco heard Hermione talking last night, she told Ron to watch me for any suspicious behavior, if they saw anything weird about me, she said they'd tell Thomas."

Severus' face paled.

"Sev, whose Tomas?"

The potions master shrugged, "Thomas Rhapsody has been our DADA teacher since last year. He might be who they're referring to."

"Is there any way that Rhapsody is involved with Voldemort?" Harry asked, the teen began to pace across the stone floor, mind working at lightning speed. Draco watched the smaller teen with mild interest. Since they're come to Hogwarts Draco was beginning to see that Harry was smarter then he acted, he did still have that hero-complex, but Harry had a rather keen mind.

"I doubt it," Snape confessed, "But he is probably working for the ministry."

"So is the ministry out to get, Harry?" Draco sighed.

Snape glared at Draco "Again I doubt it. The Ministry already looks bad for wrongly incarcerating him, they wouldn't try and cause Harry harm." Dread was growing in the pit of Severus' stomach, he was lying outright to the teens. The ministry was infamous for dealing with wizards that challenged it, wizards like Harry. It was clear that Harry would be a great wizard, a great wizard with a dangerous disregard for the rules. The ministry either employed such wizards, or destroyed them.

"I hope not," Draco growled.

"Sev, do you know anything else about Rhapsody?"

"He's dangerous, Harry, very dangerous. He's not one to be trusted." Snape sighed, "You should go to your next class, you're late already."

"Snape, is Remus taking care of quetzal?" Harry asked nervously, "I'd feel much better if I had her back."

Severus smiled, "She's fine, once things calm down a bit and things aren't so new, you should be fine to keep her with you."

"Okay, thanks, Sev!" Harry called, and then added to Draco, "C'mon slow poke."

"I am not slow, Harry! Stop being mean to me."

"Consider it revenge!" Harry laughed as they walked out of the potions classroom. "Where are we going?"

The blonde smirked and instructed, "Third floor, last door on the hall."

"What're you smirking about?"

"I'm taller then you are."

Harry elbowed him in the ribs, "Shaddup."

"Well I'm just stating a fact!" Draco sniggered, giving Harry a little shove.

"At least I have more hair then you!"

Draco rolled his eyes, "all right, girly boy."

"You're just jealous you don't have lustrous, thick hair like mine!" The smaller teen teased, flipping his hair over one shoulder.

"Why don't you cut it?" Draco asked, toying with a curl.

"I dunno," Harry shrugged, "It makes me look different then I used to…and I don't want anybody to think I'm the same as I was before."

"Trust me you're not." Draco grinned.

"Really?"

"Yeah, before you were the same height as me!"

"Alright I get it, I'm short!" Harry announced with a laugh.

The two teenagers slipped into the classroom and sat at an empty table at the end of the room. For a few moments they thought Rhapsody hadn't noticed they were late and then, "But never mind we have some late-comers! Well don't be shy, come to the front of the room."

Harry sauntered off and Draco followed with a wince.

"Mr. Malfoy, I thought you were more responsible," Rhapsody said sadly. "Look at you, missing class with your girlfriend."

Giggles, gasps, and full out cackles ruffled through the room.

"Actually I'm Harry Potter," Harry explained, "And I'm pretty sure I'm not Mr. Malfoy's girlfriend, am I?" He looked out at the classroom with a grin, waiting for an answer. There were shouts of dismay, disgust, and laughter. "Well I guess I'm not."

"You're Harry Potter?" Thomas Rhapsody purred, "It's a pleasure to meet the famed Harry." He offered a hand which Harry daintily shook while he surveyed the new teacher. Rhapsody was young, thirty at the oldest, he had wavy black hair that fell over one dark, unreadable eye. He was handsome, despite the dark circles under his eyes that his pale skin only accented.

"I'm really not all that famed," Harry said coyly.

"Will you stay a few minutes after class?"

Harry nodded politely and turned to walk back to his table when Rhapsody said, "Stay, Harry, I'd like you for a demonstration."

Draco glared at Rhapsody, but walked back to the table alone, watching the front of the room intently.

"As I was saying, class, since this is your last year as students before you go out into the world, I want to teach you how to practically use magic to fight back against the Dark Lord, so this year we'll be focusing more on offense as opposed to defense like last year. Now Mr. Potter, let's say I'm a death eater, what do you do?"

Harry elegantly raised an eyebrow, "Run away?"

"Wrong answer," the professor smirked. He shouted something and a large ball of red flame was hurling towards Harry. The teen yelped and dropped to the ground. Another ball quickly followed and Harry rolled across the floor, and fumbled with his wand.

"As we can see, Harry was not prepared to defend himself, and so I have caught him off guard, one of the key to a good attack is to catch your opponent off guard," Thomas stated, "Well take notes!"

Harry pointed his wand at Rhapsody and suddenly realized he didn't actually remember any spells. He focused on the professor and thought quickly of silver bolts. To his chagrin silver bolts darted from his wand and shot towards the professor.

They were deflected by a quick invisible wall and fizzled out.

"Very nice!" Thomas said with a grin, "Harry attacked me when my guard was done, clearly a fast learner." The professor retaliated with orange ribbons that lashed around Harry and then solidified, binding the teens wrists together. "Another key trick is to disable your opponent! An excellent spell for this is the incarcerous spell, it binds the receiver of the spell in anyway the caster sees fit."

Harry tried to wriggle free, but the ribbons clung to his skin.

"And now you must disable your opponent!" The professor shouted, bolts of red thunder flew from his wand towards Harry. The dark haired teen yelped and fell to his knees, ducking the thunder.

"**Orchideous!" Harry gasped. Instead of another bolt of thunder, flowers poured from Thomas' wand. Rhapsody laughed and Harry took the opportunity to think for a moment, he maneuvered his wand to point towards the orange ribbons on his wrists and thought of the ribbons turning to water and sliding off his wrists, they did. **

**Now free, Harry took a moment to relax, suddenly a bolt of red thunder hit him right in the chest. With a gasp Harry fell hard onto the floor, for a moment he panted, trying to catch his breath from the spell. He looked up to find Rhapsody standing above him, wand pointed at his neck. **

**"Excellent Job, Mr. Potter. Class, I have just demonstrated the principle way to attack and disable your opponent. Tomorrow will go over the spells I used, for homework I want you to try and identify my attacks, you don't need to write it down, you are dismissed." **

**The students filtered out, Harry just lay on the floor, still having trouble breathing. **

**"I'm sorry, Harry, are you alright?" The professor asked honestly, offering Harry a hand up. He pulled the still gasping teen to his feet and sighed, "I'm sorry I overdid my last spell, you are a very talented duelist, though." **

**"Thank you," Harry said with a breathless smile. **

**"I noticed you whisper your spells, why?" **

**Harry froze, most of the time he hadn't used spells, then Harry threw on his most charming grin. "Well if my enemy doesn't know what spells I'm using he can't use them against me." **

**"Very tactful, indeed, Mr. Potter," Rhapsody said with a graceful nod, "I've heard the rumors, but I'd like to ask for myself, is it true you don't remember anything before Azkaban?" **

**"It's true, I don't really remember much of Azkaban either," Harry said cautiously. He was still pretty sure he couldn't trust Mr. Rhapsody. The teen quickly decided that he had to make Rhapsody trust him in order to decide whether this man was against him or not. Harry managed a real shiver and smiled weakly at his professor, "I'd rather not talk about Azkaban, bad memories." **

**"I understand, Azkaban is a terrible place," Rhapsody agreed. **

**"You've been?" Harry asked carefully. **

**"I haven't, but my brother was. He was an unwilling slave to the Dark Lord, when the ministry finally realized he was completely unaware of his actions, they released him from Azkaban, but only after three years." The professor said bitterly. "The ministry is overwhelmed by Voldemort-you don't mind if I say his name do you?"  
Harry shook his head. **

**"Good, I know the ministry is overwhelmed, but they're so…uneffective. They have enough Aurors to fight Voldemort and yet they waste their resources, the ministry purposely keeps wizards in the dark and prevents the people from fighting back on their own!" **

**"I was there when the Death Eaters attacked Diagon Ally," Harry blurted out. "Everyone ran away screaming from the death eaters, I know they're frightening, but the wizards out numbered them one to five at least! Everyone just ran away instead of fighting! And the ministry didn't even show up till the end of the attack!" **

**"That's because the ministry would be nothing without Voldemort," Rhapsody growled. "It's been so long since the ministry worried about anything but Voldemort that they've forgotten how to actually make progress with wizarding society and deal with actual problems." **

**That peaked Harry's interest. **

**"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm ranting." **

**"No, don't be sorry. It's very interesting to me," Harry said honestly. "It's nice to find someone else who thinks that the ministry isn't doing all it could." **

**Rhapsody smiled wryly, "Still, it's unprofessional to be speaking of such things with a student." **

**"I hate to tell you, Professor Rhapsody, but I'm really not like most students," Harry sighed with a weariness that didn't match his cheery, happy go lucky student persona. **

**"No, you aren't Mr. Potter." Rhapsody agreed. "I believe Mr. Malfoy is waiting for you outside the classroom, you should go reassure him I haven't damaged you." **

**Harry snickered, "He's such a worrywart. Anyway, thanks Professor Rhapsody, I'd like to talk to you again sometime." **

**"That would be…nice, Mr. Potter." Rhapsody said with a tired smile. He watched as Harry walked out of the classroom to meet Draco and turned to glance out the window. "I look forward to it," The professor murmured quietly. **

**A/N: I actually liked this chapter. So do tell me what you think of our new, rather manipulative cute little Harry. Reviews are much loved and are all given virtual hugs. **


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Well, well, well look whose updating…again. I know, I know, the sky is falling, apocalypse is coming….so hide your cupcakes.

Their first few weeks at Hogwarts passed without incident, Harry and Quetzal were reunited (Harry pretended he bought Quetzal during their first trip to Hogsmade), Draco still didn't like Professor Thomas Rhapsody, and Quetzal decided she did like Professor Thomas Rhapsody.

"Harry, I still don't trust him." Draco pouted one fine late September afternoon.

"I know, Draco, you've been saying that for weeks," the other teen laughed as he feed Quetzal a potato chip. "Now come down to the lake with me and help me with my DADA homework."

"Fine, but I think he's a creep."

"Your opinion is noted."

They assumed their usual empty spot by the lake, Harry working faithfully on his homework and Draco playing with Quetzal. Finally Harry sighed, "Draco do you think I'm just being paranoid?"

"About you theory that someone set you up?"

"No my other conspiracy theory," Harry growled sarcastically.

The blonde smiled and shrugged, "I don't know, Harry. I heard what Ron and Hermione said about you…but we still don't have any other reason to suspect anyone intentionally tried to incarcerate you. It doesn't smell like Voldemort, but I can't think of anyone else who hates you enough to set evidence like that up."

Harry nodded, "But why are Ron and Hermione reporting to Rhapsody?"

"Well we're pretty sure he works for the ministry," Draco thought and then laughed, "Hey, maybe the ministry has some vendetta against you."

Harry bolted upright with a gasp, "Oh my god, Draco that's it! The ministry is out to get me!"

The Slytherin elegantly raised an eyebrow, "I was kidding."

"But Draco, I think you're right!"

"You do know how paranoid you sound, right?"

The smaller teen started to pace nervously, "But, Rhapsody works for the ministry, and Ron and Hermione are reporting to him about me! Clearly the ministry is trying to put me away!"

"Harry, you're jumping to conclusions. We don't know Rhapsody works for the ministry and we're not positive Ron and Hermione are reporting to Rhapsody at all! They're reporting to Thomas….do you have any idea how many people named Thomas there are in England!"

Harry glared at Draco, but never the less plopped unceremoniously onto the floor next to him. "I hate this!" Harry growled. "We've been waiting almost all month and we still don't know anything!"

"Harry, come on, we're still not even sure there is any conspiracy against you."

Quetzal cooed loudly and slithered over to Harry's neck, nuzzling her master's jaw. Harry patted the hybrid gently, "Maybe I am being a little paranoid." Harry admitted, although inside he was still completely convinced someone was out to get him.

Draco snorted, "A little?"

"Well you're the one obsessed with disliking Rhapsody."

"Not cause I think he's involved in some conspiracy against you, I just think he's weird." The blonde growled. "He pays way to much attention to you."

Harry grinned, "Aw, is Draco jealous?"

"No!" Draco sputtered going a pale shade of pink. "I'm not jealous!"

"I think you are," Harry purred, scooting a little bit closer to the taller teen and placing his lips just a hair away from Draco's ear. "I think, you want me all to yourself." Harry watched as Draco took in a shaky breath, face tinged pink, eyes slightly glazed. Then the boy who lived grinned, "Just kidding."

Harry laughed as Draco glared at him, the smaller teen got to his feet and brushed himself off, "Alright I'll see you tonight, Draco. I actually promised Rhapsody I'd take private lessons to get all caught up with everyone else."

"Well go let him molest you, see what I care." Draco growled.

With a grin, Harry patted Draco's head and snickered, "You can't molest the willing."

Harry darted away, cackling at Draco's outraged yelp. "Just kidding, Draco!"

XoXoXo

"No, No, Harry you have to annunciate clearly, it's **petrificus totalus!" Rhapsody lectured for the third time. He pointed to the cat they were practicing the spell on, "Now try it again." **

**"Petrificus totalus," Harry whispered, in his mind visualizing the cat freezing. The spell shot from his wand in a wave of silver and hit the cat. Quetzal from her position on the window chirped in celebration. **

**"Excellent," Thomas murmured, quickly undoing the spell. The cat resumed movement and scampered away. "You learn pretty quickly, and you retain information well." **

**"Thanks, professor," Harry shrugged, "But I'm still behind the other students cause I missed last year." **

**"Actually I don't think you're that far behind, you're very connected with your wand and you're just a powerful wizard." Rhapsody shrugged. "I noticed that often times you don't even say the name of the spell, it just happens." **

**Harry's eyes widened, his stomach dropped. "Is that rare?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. What if Rhapsody used that as evidence he was a dark wizard? Oh god, were they going to send him back to Azkaban! **

**"Not especially, it's just that most students aren't that gifted." **

**A sigh of relief escaped Harry's lips. **

**"Listen, Harry, I know it's unethical, but I need to warn you about something." Rhapsody confessed. Harry's ears prickled and he focused intently on the professor. "This Friday is the last day of the month, and at the end of every month I organize a surprise test for the students. This month I'm setting up an obstacle course of sorts in the forbidden forest. I just wanted to warn you because you missed last year." **

**"…well I guess it's not a surprise anymore." Harry grinned. "Thanks for the warning, Professor." **

**"Your welcome, Harry, I'd hate to see you get hurt in an accident," Rhapsody said with complete sincerity. **

**Harry smiled weakly at the professor, "That's very nice of you." **

**"I like to think I'm a nice guy." **

**"I think you are." **

**Rhapsody blushed and then stammered, "Shall we move on to the stinging hex?" **

**XoXoXo**

**"Remus what in gods name are you doing?" Lucius gasped. **

**"…um, reading? You should try it sometime." Remus yawned from his position on a desk down in the potions classroom. **

**"No, I mean what are you reading?" **

**The werewolf took a sarcastic glance at the cover, "Hogwarts, a history." **

**"Why would you read that?" **

**"Cause it's interesting." **

**"No it's not! It's more boring then listening to Sev act all evil." Lucius wined. **

**"Oh shut up, Lucius," Snape growled from his desk where he was grading papers. "If you're just going to stand around and be annoying, then you can at least help me grade these papers." **

**"…meh, I think I'll just bother Remus." **

**"It's not optional," Severus sighed, holding out a stack of papers. **

**Lucius took it gingerly and sat down at the other end of the desk Remus was seated on. "But I don't know how to grade papers," The blonde protested. **

**"I'll help," Remus sighed. He put down his book and started to help Lucius read over the papers. **

**About halfway thought his stack it suddenly occurred to Snape that he still hadn't told the other two men about Harry's conspiracy theory. Originally Snape planned on discussing it with Harry's other two guardians, but by the end of the week it had faded from his mind. There didn't seem to be any evidence to support Harry's ideas and there had been no incidents since school started. It had been a surprisingly tame school year so far. **

**"Harry thinks someone set him up to be convicted." Snape blurted. "I think he believes the ministry was behind it." **

**The other two men completely froze. **

**"He told me at the beginning of school, I mean I don't think there's any truth to it…" Severus trailed off, waiting for a response. **

**"I don't see how the ministry could hurt Harry while he's in Hogwarts." Lucius said calmly. **

**"But Rhapsody is working for the ministry," Remus said pointedly. "Severus, do you think Rhapsody is spying on Harry?" **

**"I don't know," Snape admitted, "He pays a lot of attention to Harry apparently, Draco's jealous." **

**Lucius and Remus exchanged a worried look, "wait so we actually think the ministry is out to get Harry?" Remus sighed. **

**"That sounds a little dramatic," The blonde next to Remus chuckled. **

**"Lucius be serious for once," Snape growled. **

**"There is no way the ministry is trying to get Harry." Lucius said with a roll of his eyes. "The kids just being paranoid, the ministry doesn't know anything about his wandless magic and as long as we're careful they'll never know." **

**"I suppose not," Remus gingerly agreed, "But what about Rhapsody? What do we do about him?" **

**"I told Harry to avoid him, Rhapsody's dangerous." Snape shrugged, he continued to grade his papers, paying half attention to the conversation. **

**Lucius rolled his eyes and sighed, "wait, Sev, why is he so dangerous? Cause of the vampire incident?" **

**"It's not just that, he comes from a family that is notorious for being involved with Voldemort. His real name is Thomas Maddox-"**

**"I thought there weren't any Maddox's left!" Lucius interrupted. "They were one of Voldemort's top supporters!"**

**"Well Rhapsody is one of them. He changed his name to Rhapsody after his brother was released from Azkaban. His brother was wrongly incarcerated as a spy for Voldemort, afterwards Rhapsody changed his name, appearance, everything." Snape explained. **

**Remus cocked his head and asked, "It seems like he dislikes Voldemort….why should we distrust him?" **

**"Rhapsody was an auror, one of the youngest in history. He was infamous for what seemed like accidentally putting himself and the people around him in dangerous, often fatal situations. Once he led a dozen aurors in a raid of death eaters, he was the only one who got out alive." **

**The werewolf cringed, "well that doesn't make him too trustworthy, but I don't think he's dangerous." **

**"Well I think he is." Snape growled. "I don't like him." **

**Remus rolled his eyes, "The same way you didn't like Sirius." **

**"Exactly!" Severus exclaimed, Remus grinned in triumph. "Wait, no, I mean…" **

**"Sev, you just don't like him, he's not dangerous," Remus chuckled. **

**"He always does that," Lucius snickered. **

**"The ministry fired him," Severus snapped. **

**"For being a crappy auror?" Lucius said sarcastically. **

**"No, they never said." **

**Remus and Lucius froze and their eyes rolled to stare at the potions master. "What did they fire him for?" Remus finally asked. **

**"They never released that information. But it was shortly after his discharge that he changed his name." Snape said in triumph. **

**"But the ministry never fires anyone without a reason …the only ones they fire without a reason are…" The werewolf trailed off. **

**"Suspected spies for Voldemort," Snape finished. "They never had enough evidence to convict him." **

**Remus' eyes widened, "Maybe Rhapsody is the spy! He set Harry up in order to take attention off himself!" **

**Lucius rolled his eyes and gave the werewolf a light shove, "C'mon, Remus, don't you start babbling about conspiracy theories too!" **

**"I'm not saying it's a conspiracy theory, I'm just saying maybe it was Rhapsody who set Harry up. Maybe he thought if he could get rid of Harry he could spy more easily for Voldemort." **

**"Why would Voldemort want a spy in Hogwarts?" Lucius scoffed. **

**Remus raised his golden eyebrows, "Hogwarts is full of wizards with great potential, especially the 7th years. Voldemort is always looking for new followers and the younger he can find them, the better." **

**"Fuck," Lucius sighed. **

**"Now do we all agree Rhapsody is dangerous?" Severus said smugly. There were nods from the other two men. "So we'll assume he is a spy for Voldemort." Snape concluded. **

**Remus hesitantly nodded and as did Lucius. **

**"Should we tell Harry?" Lucius asked quietly. **

**"No, he's been managing everything well, he'll be careful." Snape said confidently. "Harry knows Rhapsody isn't to be trusted." **

**XoXoXo**

**The week passed quickly and Friday, the last day of September rolled around. Harry wasn't particularly worried about the monthly exam in DADA that Rhapsody had previously warned him about. **

**Draco on the other hand was. **

**As the class walked across the castle grounds to the edge of the forbidden forest Harry and Draco lingered at the back of the crowd inconspicuously. **

**"Draco, relax, it's just an obstacle course!" Harry sighed for the third time. **

**"Kindly remember that the man is dangerous! He's probably rigged it so you get eaten by some wild animal." The blonde protested. **

**Harry had kindly put up with Draco's over protectiveness. Remus and Lucius were acting weird, and Severus was being even more paranoid then usual. Harry was reaching the end of his rope. Nobody thought he could take care of himself, nobody believed that there was a conspiracy against him, in which Voldemort was not involved. And the worst part was Harry had nobody to confide in, he was completely on his own. **

**The petite Gryffindor finally growled and whirled towards Draco, "I am so sick of you being so damn over protective! I can take care of myself Draco!" **

**"Like you took care of yourself at Knockturn Ally! If it hadn't been for me, you'd be dead!" Draco snarled in response. **

**"I would've fought instead of running away like a little rat!" **

**"And you'd still be dead!" Draco shouted, ignoring the attention they were drawing to themselves. **

**Harry seethed, the worst part of all this was that Draco was right, "Shut up!" **

**"No, you know I'm right!" **

**"No you're wrong! Get the hell away from me!" **

**"Fine the next time you need me I won't be there!" Draco finally snapped. **

**"Good, cause I don't need your help!" Harry hissed. He stormed off and glanced around for one of his Gryffindor friends and spotted Neville. "Hey, Neville, got any idea where we're going?" Harry asked brightly, his usual cheerful self. He glanced back at Draco and smirked maliciously and then returned to grinning at Neville. **

**"Little bastard." Draco muttered to himself. **

**"You are a little over protective, Draco," Blaise pointed out. **

**"Shut up!" **

**The Slytherins pretty much left Draco alone to simmer.**

**The class reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and Rhapsody began to explain the test. "Students, today we'll be having our monthly exam. This one is an obstacle course of sorts. One by one you will enter the forest and follow the path I set up. You may use whatever spells you wish, the only goal is to reach the portkey at the end of the course. You will be graded on speed, use of spells, and control over spells. Now everyone line up one by one."**

**The students obeyed and one by one Rhapsody ordered them into the forest by shouting their name. As the line shortened Harry found himself nervously clutching his wand, finally he was up next. The teen looked to Rhapsody and waited for the professor to shout his name. **

**And then it came, "Harry Potter!" **

**With a deep breath Harry took a slow step forward and then ran into the dark forest. **

**A/N: ooooh a cliffie. **

**Will Rhapsody turn out to be a spy for Voldie? **

**Will Harry end up needing Draco's help? **

**And will Lucius ever learn to read? **

**Find out in the next chapter. **


	12. Chapter 12

Almost immedietly the sun in the sky above seemed to fade away. Even this close to the edge of the forest the sky was barely visible, the trees were lights by an ethereal blue light. Harry slowed to a walk and looked deeper into the forest, watching the dirt path he was walking on wind though the brambles of thorns and rocks.

The teen glanced around fitfully, waiting for something to leap out of the underbrush and attack him. Instead he could only walk and watch shadows play on the trees around him.

Suddenly a bolt of red darted past his face, Harry yelped, fell to the floor, and pointed his wand towards the origin of the bolt. "**Expelliarmus!"**

**A crack from behind him alerted Harry to another bolt hurling towards him. The teen shrieked, shouted a protective hex and scrambled to his feet. He dashed down the path, slipping between bolts and ducking under them, only occasionally remembering the fact that he had a wand which he could use to cast spells. **

**XoXoXo**

**Outside Draco Malfoy stood at the edge of the forest when he heard a rather loud shriek from inside. His eyes whipped to their Professor who was also starring intently into the forest. **

**"Professor, what happens if someone gets hurt?" Draco growled that shriek was definitely familiar. **

**"It's a very safe course, just a few harmless spells. The whole course is linked to a parchment in the classroom, if a student doesn't complete the course properly then it'll just be transferred on the parchment." Rhapsody explained distractedly. **

**"So you don't have any surveillance on the course?" **

**"No, I told you, it's very safe." **

**"So what if some monster from the forbidden forest wonders onto it? That's not possible is it?" Draco asked, voice dripping in sarcasm. The blonde was becoming increasingly annoyed, because clearly this course wasn't safe at all. **

**"Oh…" Rhapsody gasped, "Fuck me…I guess that could happen…. B-but it's highly unlikely!" **

**The tension in the air was broken by a loud scream from inside the forest. Draco definitely knew that voice, in fact he'd know it anywhere by now. He had half a mind not to run into the forest and help the little Gryffindor twerp. After all, he did say he didn't need Draco's help. **

**And then there was a monstrous growl. **

**Draco quickly made up his mind and raced into the forest. Rhapsody barked orders to the remaining students and raced into the forest himself. **

**XoXoXo**

**"Oh bloody hell!" Harry shouted, as he found himself faced with a gigantic three headed dog. For some reason this large dog was extremely familiar, and Harry knew there was some simply way to escape it, but he couldn't remember. So instead Harry pointed his wand at the thing and gasped the first thing that popped into his mind, "Petrificus Totalus!" **

**The dog froze and toppled onto its side with a loud thud. Harry **ran past the giant creature, reasonably sure that it wasn't part of the obstacle course. "Holy fuck!" The teen gasped, he leaned against a tree and caught his breath, glancing nervously around the forest.

Suddenly the forest began to get colder, Harry glanced down at his fingers to see the bark of the tree beginning to crystallize with ice. The teen shivered and watched as his breath floated towards the treetops in little puffs of smoke. Even inside Harry felt cold. It was as if something was sucking the very warmth from the air.

His eyes widened violently.

He remembered this icy cold.

This empty, frozen feeling that was swelling inside his throat.

Azkaban.

It was a Dementor.

For a moment Harry was frozen in fear, and then he took a deep breath, shook his head. And took off running.

XoXoXo

"Harry!" Draco shouted, he was following down the winding dirt path, dodging the red bolts that shot from invisible spaces between the trees. He ran past the giant frozen dog with only a passing glance.

Draco noticed the air growing colder and the frost on the trees, "Dementors?" He asked himself, "In the forest…can't be." It was at this point he noticed three Dementors slowly floating towards him.

The blonde ran off the path. "Harry!" he screamed. Draco took the time as he ran to scan the ground for Harry's unconscious body, knowing the teen's deep fear of Dementors.

XoXoXo

As Harry ran, his mind began to fog, he couldn't think straight. Fear and nostalgia was beginning to overwhelm him. All he could think about was he cold, dark cell in Azkaban. All he could feel was a deep cold building inside his chest and panic, mind numbing manic.

The teen ran desperately, breath hitched, eyes wild.

He hurled himself against a tree, gasping for breath. Tears trickled down his cheeks, as his eyes twitched toward every breath and sigh of the forest. Harry didn't remember where he was, he was running…was he still in Azkaban? He must be, Azkaban was the only place the Dementors were. They were after him!

With a heavy sob Harry pushed himself forward, the world around him spun violently.

Suddenly a scream tore through the haze in his mind, "Harry!"

The teen stopped and pressed a hand to his head. Did he know that voice? Whose voice was that. It was familiar…it didn't belong in Azkaban.

"Harry fucking Potter, answer me!"

"D-Draco?"

"For fucks sake Harry!"

The Gryffindor smiled weakly, "Draco!" he shouted.

Harry glanced around the forest, and the smile faded from his face. Advancing on him was a gigantic, bumbling creature, running clumsily through the trees. It had to be at least sixteen feet tall. The teen's eyes widened to the size of tea-saucers, but he found himself unable to move.

All he could do was watch in horror as the gigantic feet stumbled closer and closer to him. Harry's mouth dropped as one huge foot raised right above his head, in a moment it would fall and squash him like a ripe melon.

At the last moment something heavy slammed into Harry, propelling him just a few inches out of the way of the rampaging troll. He winced and looked up to find Draco sprawled on his chest, glaring at him with fiery angry eyes.

"Bloody Merlin, Harry! You'd think you could move your skinny ass out of the way!"

Harry sniffled, "I'm sorry, Draco."

"You're sorry! You would've died if it hadn't been for me…again!" Draco ranted. "And you say you can take care of yourself! Well I'll tell you something, you can't!"

Harry wasn't actually listening to Draco at that point, he was instead watching behind Draco's shoulder as three shadows advanced on the teenagers. Dementors.

For a moment Harry was caught in a familiar fog of panic and helplessness. They would get him, they would throw him back in Azkaban. The though made him gasp for breath, it was getting colder, Harry shivered as his skin began to frost over.

Above him Draco was still talking, his face angry. Harry couldn't understand the words spewing from the blonde's pale lips. Then the tirade stopped, Draco's nose twitched like it always did when he realized something.

A ghastly, skeletal hand emerged from the tattered robe, reaching out to brush Draco's pale, icy hair.

"Draco, get down," Harry whispered, eyes locked on the three Dementors. His mind was still in a haze, all he could recognize was Draco, the Dementors were going to get Draco. They were going to Azkaban.

"What?"

And suddenly the haze cleared, Harry would not go back to Azkaban, ever. And he'd be damned if he let a filthy Dementor touch Draco. Harry simultaneously wrapped an arm around the blonde's neck, yanking him down towards the ground, and shoved his other arm towards the Dementors.

"Expecto Patronum,"

Silver light bloomed from Harry's palm, swirling around the Dementors. It took the form of a large stag, galloping majestically around the Dementors, butting them and pushing them back. The Dementors shrieked and made one more attempt to grab Harry. The stag reared in front of Harry, its glow burning the Gryffindor's eyes. With a final shriek the black cloaked figures took to flight and like a wisp of black cloud floated out of sight.

The patronus pranced through the woods one last time, securing the area for it's master. The majestic being of silver bowed to Harry and faded away, the silver mists clearing and slowly settling back into Harry's still outstretched palm.

As the mists cleared Harry was able to make out a figure standing there, watching.

His heart leapt into his throat, his pulse raced.

The mists cleared completely and Harry was ready to attack whatever was standing there.

Harry's eyes widened, Rhapsody was standing there. The professor was starring at Harry like he'd seen a ghost. "Professor?" Harry whispered.

"You can do wandless magic," Rhapsody said in quiet awe.

For a moment Harry lay there on the ground of the forbidden forest, clutching a now unconscious Draco to his chest. The teen slowly got to his feet, finger pointed menacingly at Rhapsody. "That's right. Now tell me who you're working for."

"What?"

"I know you're working for someone, is it Voldemort or the Ministry!" Harry insisted. "Someone is out to get me and I think you know something!"

"Oh god," Rhapsody sighed, "You have it all wrong,"

"No I think I've got it all right!" The teen snarled, stepping in front of Draco. "Now tell me who you're working for!"

"Harry, please," The professor said with a raw, intense voice, "have I given you any reason to distrust me?"

"…no, but-"

"Then please believe me! Your right to be suspicious of me, but I'm not the one whose trying to harm you." Rhapsody said carefully. "I need you to trust me."

"Why should I?"

The professor slowly walked towards Harry and got to his knees before the teen. "You have to trust me. There is something horrible going on inside the ministry, a conspiracy if you will. I can tell you more, I can help you. But for now I need you to trust me."

Harry looked down at Rhapsody, searching his dark, fathomless eyes for some hint of the man's intentions. He only found earnest, raw, intensity. Harry nodded slowly, "Alright, but you cast the patronus spell and rescued Draco and I," The Gryffindor nodded towards the unconscious blonde, "You don't know I can do wandless magic and we never had this conversation."

Rhapsody looked slight confused, but he nodded and obeyed Harry's request. "Are you alright Harry?"

"I'm fine, Draco's just unconscious."

"Then I'll just revive him and we can get to the portkey," The Professor knelt by Draco and then looked up at Harry. "Thank you."

The teen shrugged darkly, "Don't thank me yet. I still don't trust you."

"Tonight, meet me in the courtyard, I'll explain everything then.

Harry grudgingly nodded.

A/N: short chapter I know, but next one will be uber long.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I never update. I'm sorry. But it's Christmas vacation, so I'll write a lot. Because I'm slacking off and not studying for midterms. Go me!

"I can't believe Dumbledore let Dementors into the castle!" Draco ranted. "We need to file a complaint or something!"

"I'm sure Dumbledore's doing his best," Harry said absent-mindedly. "Look it was just an accident, Draco."

The duo was walking back to the castle, the sun was setting and it was getting cooler out. Behind them the Forbidden Forest lurked and hidden inside were Dementors. They walked quickly, both glancing nervously over their shoulders at the forest. Someone had let Dementors into the forest, someone with a lot of power.

"Dementors in Hogwarts?! Dumbledore had to know! Maybe he's in league with Rhapsody!" the blonde rambled on while Harry examined his hands nervously. Magic came out of them. Wasn't magic only supposed to work with a wand? Draco finally noticed the smaller teen's strange behavior. "Harry are you sure you're alright?"

Harry smiled weakly, "Yeah, I'm positive."

Draco gently took one of Harry's hands in his own, "You're all cut up," the blond noticed, tracing the tiny scratches and the cuts.

"Nothings deep," The smaller teen said evasively, tugging his hand away softly.

But Draco held the hand tightly and sighed. He traced the bloodied cuts and said quietly, "This is all my fault, it's my fault you got hurt."

"Of course it's not, Draco, if I wasn't such a ditz I would remember to get out of the way of charging trolls," Harry teased, "It's no big deal-"

"Nothing ever is with you," Draco said bitterly, he dropped Harry's hand and stepped away from the Gryffindor, "Nothing bothers you, does it? You could get yourself chopped to ribbons and never even think about me."

"Why should you care what happens to me?" Harry retorted.

Draco shook his head, "Because I care about you? No, but you don't want anyone to care, do you?" He turned and started to walk away.

"No, that's not true!" Harry protested.

"Then stop hiding things from me."

The Gryffindor winced, but he was hiding things for Draco's own good. Well…no…more so that Harry wouldn't have to deal with the blondes temper, but still. Harry could handle himself, he didn't need a babysitter, and certainly not one who was always angry as him. Harry sighed and sat against the wall of Hogwarts castle, watching the sun set behind the trees of the forbidden forest and the stars buzz in the sky above him like fireflies.

Three hours after sundown Harry made his way to the courtyard where he saw Rhapsody nervously pacing. "Professor?" Harry called softly.

"Harry! You came! Thank god!" Rhapsody looked painfully relieved and handed something black and furry to him. "Here, put this on."

"Er…what is it?"

"A coat?" Thomas answered.

"Oh," Harry laughed, slipping into the fluffy, warm coat. He adjusted his long hair around the coats lapels and slipped his hands into the pockets, "So where are we going?"

"Somewhere quiet where we can talk." Rhapsody told the teen.

The laughter vanished from Harry's eyes, "No, you tell me where we're going or else."

"Hogs Head pub,"

"Fine."

The walk was short enough, the coat warded off the cold and Harry's mind wondered forward in time. He briefly wondered what Thomas would tell him, hell what could the professor possibly say? Harry had already pondered every possible conspiracy theory, so the teen came to the conclusion that the most logical one was that the ministry was out to get him. Harry grinned despite himself, ironically the most logical theory sounded the silliest.

"Harry?"

"Wha-" Harry glanced around and suddenly realized they were at the pub. "After you," the teen said with a smile, waving the older man inside. Rhapsody entered the pub, slightly confused by Harry's smile. The teen should've been nervous, extremely nervous.

Harry followed the professor to a shadowed table in a corner of the bar.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Rhapsody asked.

"I'm fine."

They were silent for a moment, finally Thomas said, "So-um…I guess you'd like to know what's going on."

"That'd be nice," Harry said patiently, he put on a calm smile, but inside his brain was reeling. Rhapsody was as nervous as a freshman on hazing day, Harry could use that to his advantage.

"I'll speak plainly then, I work for the ministry."

Harry resisted the urge to say no duh.

"Inside the ministry there is a department called the department of Wizarding Control. The D.W.C. is responsible for controlling the wizarding population for dangerous wizards, so basically they take care of wizards who are an issue."

"So they're like aurors," Harry said.

"No, no, Aurors take care of Death Eaters. The D.W.C. arranges the death or incarceration of wizards who have been deemed unstable. They mostly handle criminals using magic for sordid purposes, but occasionally a wizard comes along who breaks conventional rules…who polarizes people."

Harry nodded in encouragement, he needed more.

"When one of these wizards, catalysts, they call them, comes along they always change things, not always drastically, but they cause friction with the ministry. The ministry holds complete power over the wizarding world, and they really, really don't like catalysts."

"And the D.W.C. get rid of the catalysts before they become powerful enough to change anything." Harry sighed.

"Exactly," Thomas said seriously, "there hasn't been a great catalyst since the ministry was founded in 1200."

Harry felt the pit of his stomach drop, he had a sudden idea, a terrible idea. "And what does the D.W.C. do when they find catalysts."

"Kill 'em or lock 'em in Azkaban."

"And do the catalysts ever escape from Azkaban?"

"One did."

"Sirius," Harry said quietly, shoving the emotions that name brought in him out of his mind.

"Yes," Rhapsody agreed, "But one more got out, he was found innocent because the real spy coincidently stepped forward and admitted his guilt in the boys 7th year of school."

"Me, I'm a catalyst."

Thomas grimaced, "Yeah,"

"The D.W.C. put me in Azkaban," the teen said, desperately trying to keep any emotion from his voice. If he let them in, they would overpower him. Rhapsody nodded. "And they let me out?"

Then Thomas grinned, "No Harry, you see there are a small portion of ministry employees who support you, we blackmailed the D.W.C. See what happened was that they had a traitor, one of them was consulting Voldemort and feeding him information. We found out and threatened to expose the corrupt D.W.C. Instead they offered a trade, they'd put the trader in Azkaban and give us you. But they tricked us, the bargain didn't extend past the trade. They are trying to kill you, Harry, and they have the support of the ministry behind them."

Finally Harry sighed, "Fuck, so it's true then?"

"What is?"

"The ministry is out to get me."

"Well…I guess that's the simplified version."

The Gryffindor laughed, Thomas looked at him like he was crazy, but Harry giggled even harder, "Wait till I tell Draco!"

"Actually I think Draco shouldn't know any of this."

The laughter stopped abruptly, "why?"

"He shouldn't be involved in something that doesn't concern him. Harry what I've just told you could lead to the deaths of all the people who support you. We can't risk that." Rhapsoday said determinedly, "You are going to change the wizarding world, and it is up to us to keep you alive."

"No, Thomas, no. I appreciate you telling me all this," Harry growled, "But I won't be a tool again, not for you, or Voldemort, or the ministry."

"But Harry, you're the catalyst of the century! Using you we could dismantle the ministry and create a new system of wizarding government."

Harry's eyes hardened, "I. Will. Not. Be. A. Tool." Harry repeated again. "Do you understand, Thomas?"

Sullenly the professor nodded, "How could you betray us?"

"I'm not betraying anyone, you freed me so you could use me. I agree the ministry is corrupt, but Voldemort is the larger threat right now. Once he's dead then maybe I can help you with the ministry." Harry explained politely. He couldn't help but feel dirty, he felt like he'd been used again. The teen wanted to cry, but there wasn't time for that. He had to talk to Draco and Remus. He needed a plan, he needed help.

"You can't destroy Voldemort, not on your own. You need our help! Once the ministry is defeated we can get Voldemort." Rhapsody insisted, "Let us help you!"

Harry thought for a moment.

He needed Rhapsody as an ally, but his priorities were all screwed up, the man was completely preoccupied with the ministry and was ignoring the larger threat.

He needed Voldemort dead.

He needed to use Rahpsody and his allies inside the ministry as informants.

He needed Draco to call him an idiot and make this stupid static in his head disappear.

"Alright," The Gryffindor said slowly, "I help you tear down the ministry and you help me." In reality Harry had no intentions of helping Rhapsody, maybe after Voldemort was dead they could take down the ministry. Maybe the ministry would be destroyed when Voldemort died. Maybe Harry wouldn't even be alive to see a world without Voldemort. Maybe, maybe, maybe. There were too many maybes.

"Thank you, Harry." Rhapsody whispered, sincerity and hope burning in his dark eyes. "You truly are our catalyst."

"No, I'm just trying to help," Harry said with a distant smile, "I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Yes, Harry, tomorrow." Thomas agreed.

The teen couldn't bear to see that blind hope in the professors eyes anymore so he turned and walked away. A grown man believed Harry was the answer to his prayers. Harry felt sick to his stomach, he'd lied to Thomas. He'd inspired that blind devotion that shone in the man's eyes. He was going to manipulate Rhapsody's dreams so he could satisfy his own.

Harry walked quickly back to the castle, barely holding back his vomit.

He was disgusting, he was no better then Voldemort.

To distract himself from his own actions, Harry bought the newest Quibbler paper and thumbed through it. There was some information on the ministry, according to some reporter it was losing support with the English. The ministry was trying to arrange for someone from the American ministry to come and visit.

His eyes were suddenly jerked to a photograph on the paper, for a second he thought it was Draco. But the caption underneath read, Daniel Blake, director of foreign affairs for American Ministry. Harry smiled weakly Blake looked exactly like Draco, funny coincidence. That reminded Harry, he needed to find Draco, he needed to explain all of this to him.

The teen stole into the castle and then scampered down to the Slytherin dungeons where he encountered a portrait of a man garbed in a suit of armor. "Hi," Harry told the portrait sadly.

"Trying to get down to the dungeons?"

Harry nodded.

"And you don't know the password do you?"

The teen shook his head.

"I'm sorry, my boy, but I can't let you in."

"S'okay," Harry sniffled, "You're just doing your job." He leaned against the cold stone wall and slid to the floor. Little wet tears trickled down his cheeks and splashed onto the floor. He was all alone and he deserved it. The teen raked a hand through his hair and he tried to stop crying, he really did. He tried to focus on what he needed to do with Rhapsody, and the dementors, and Draco, but no answers came. He just cried.

"Harry?"

The teen looked up to find Draco walking towards him, carrying a bag of books. Harry didn't even bother to try and look dignified, he just sniffled pathetically and Draco crouched down beside him. "Hi, Draco."

"You okay?" Draco asked, he leaned against the wall next to Harry and hesitantly wrapped an arm around the smaller teen's shoulders. Draco was careful, he didn't want to irritate Harry, he was a bit scared that Harry was mad about what he'd said earlier. When the Gryffindor leaned into his chest, Draco relaxed and tightened his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"I'm a bad person." Harry sniffled into the blonde's shoulder.

"No you aren't Harry, why would you think that?"

"Cause I lied to you and I use people and I'm killed people."

Draco sighed, "Firstly don't try and assign anything as bad or good, alright? Things just are, you can't assign judgment to them. Now what did you lie about?"

"Promise you won't yell at me?"

The blonde's heart melted, he immedietly felt terrible for all the times he'd lost his temper, "Promise."

"Rhapsody knows I can do wandless magic, I used it in the forest to get rid of the Dementor." Harry waited for Draco to say something, but the blond was silent. Harry, emboldened, continued, "And I met him at the Hogshead and he told me all this stuff about the ministry and they are trying to kill me!"

"The ministry of magic is trying to kill you?" Draco asked in disbelief.

"Well not the whole ministry, but the department of wizarding control is! And the ministry supports them, they're the ones who put me in Azkaban!"

Draco's mind started to race into the past. The ministry put Harry in Azkaban? That did make some sense, Harry was quiet the trouble maker. But they had evidence Harry was a spy, testimonies from Dumbledore himself. The ministry must've convinced Dumbledore into playing along, but what did Dumbledore gain from Harry's incarceration? "So if the ministry put you in, why did they let you out?"

"Apparently there's a group of people in the ministry who secretly support me. They blackmailed the D.W.C. into letting me out." Harry sniffled sullenly, when he said it out loud the whole plot sounded ridiculous. If he really was as important as Rahpsody said, then the D.W.C. shouldn't have let him out, no matter what they were blackmailed with. "But I think that's a lie."

"Agreed it doesn't make much sense," Draco said then he gasped, "wait D.W.C?"

"Yeah," Harry said in confusion, "Do you know them or something?"

"Harry the D.W.C….if they're out to get you we're screwed. They've been keeping the ministry in power since 1200, no one can stand up to the D.W.C." Draco could feel fear welling in his throat, "If they locked you up then that means you're a catalyst, right?"

"That's what Rhapsody said," Harry whispered.

"No blackmail is gonna force the D.W.C. to let a catalyst out of Azkaban. Do you think Rhapsody is lying to us?"

Harry sniffled, "No, someone must've fed him the story, he thinks what he told me was the truth. He's obsessed with destroying the ministry, that's what made him believe that story, he's deluding himself." The teen sighed, "Fuck, so whoever fed Rhapsody that bullshit about Blackmailing the D.W.C. is whose trying to get rid of me?"

"That's how it looks," Draco sighed, "We're in way over our heads here."

"Rhapsody wants me to help him destroy the ministry, I told him I'd help him. But I have to get rid of Voldemort first! Draco, I lied to Rhapsody, I was thinking he could get me information from inside the ministry and I…I'm using him."

Draco smiled weakly and ruffled Harry's hair, "Good job, now we've got us an informant."

"But we're using him!" Harry protested, "doesn't that make us bad?"

The blonde sighed and rested his head atop Harry's, "It's a dirty world out there, and if you're gonna survive in it, you've gotta get your hands dirty too."

"Is survival worth more then morals?" The Gryffindor asked. He felt alone again all of the sudden, even though he was right beside Draco.

"Depends how bad you wanna live."

They sat in silence for a moment. Finally Harry asked, "So what're we gonna do?"

Draco shook his head slowly, "I have no idea."

"We should ask Remus and Sev and Lucius, they'll know what to do." Harry said nervously, "Right?"

"I hope so."

"I'm scared," Harry said, his voice was bland though, completely devoid of any feeling or emotion. He was too tired to feel anything, he didn't feel scared. He knew he was.

"Me too."

That's when they heard the scream.

They exchanged a look, "Courtyard," They murmured in unison. The two leapt to their feet and broke into a sprint towards the scream. Within minutes they dashed into the courtyard to find a gaggle of students, shaking and crying.

Together they pushed through the thong and found a body in the center. It was a girl, neither Harry nor Draco recognized her. She was white as a sheet and there were two neat puncture marks on her neck and no blood around her. Harry knelt beside her and quickly checked her pulse, her neck was still warm and there was a faint, sluggish beat.

"She's alive!" Harry sighed in relief. "Someone find a professor!" he yelled into the throng. At least ten students dashed off in the direction of the castle.

Draco was starring into the forbidden forest, eyes hard and steely. "Harry do you see that?"

"What?" Harry asked, he got to his feet and stood by Draco, "I don't see-holy fuck!" The teen gasped. Starring out of the forest were a pair of red eyes, they weren't human, there was something almost alien about them…something animalistic. They seemed to meet Harry's for a brief moment and then they disappeared into the shadows.

"It's some sort of animal," Draco said quietly.

Harry nodded in agreement, why did those eyes seem so familiar? Then his eyes widened violently, "Voldemort!"

"What?" Draco snapped.

"That thing is the hybrid! It's got the same eyes as Voldemort, as that Basalisk! He did it! He bred a Chimera with a Basalisk."

The two teens stood in silence, watching the forest, watching what was lurking inside it. Behind them Professors shouted and ordered the students towards their dorms. They even heard Remus and Severus there as well.

Finally Harry said softly, "Voldemort wouldn't let that creature leave his sight, it's too valuable for him to loose."

"You know there're Dementors in there." Draco breathed.

Their minds had reached the same conclusion.

Harry gently murmured, "Dementors should be hunting for Voldemort and his Deatheaters,"

"But they let the hybrid attack a student," Draco replied.

"Whoever controls the Dementors is on Voldemorts side." Harry gently grabbed Draco's sleeve as a shiver laced his spine.

"The Dementors aren't hunting Deatheaters anymore, they're hunting-"

"-me." Harry finished.

Suddenly someone grabbed Harry's arm, the teen whirled to find Remus standing there, "Come on, it's not safe out here."

The teens followed Remus down to the potions rooms where Severus was working furiously on a potion and Lucius was sitting on a students desk, looking paler then a sheet.

"Voldemort's nearby," Lucius said hoarsely. Draco immediately went to his father and placed a comforting hand on the older mans shoulder. "He's going to kill us, isn't he?"

"No he'll kill me first, then he'll come after you and Draco," Harry said quietly.

No one even had the heart to argue.

"Shit." Remus sighed. "At least the girls alive."

"There'll be other attacks," Harry sighed. He snatched a piece of parchment and a quill from Severus' desk. "It was the hybrid that got her, Voldemort made a successful one."

"But there're Dementors in the forest as well," Remus said pointedly, "Shouldn't they be after Voldemort?"

"No, Voldemorts allied with the ministry. Whoever controls the Dementors is allied with Voldemort, so the ministry has the Dementors after me." Harry explained, he scribbled furiously on the sheet of parchment. "Appearently I'm a catalyst."

Remus winced loudly, Lucius went even paler, and Severus growled.

Harry rolled his eyes, "That proves it, you all suspected the ministry was after me."

"We didn't think you were a catalyst," Remus offered quietly, "You're related to some troublesome wizards, the ministry hasn't liked you since you were born."

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Harry murmured angrily, "I hate this, all these stupid plots and lies. It's just a waste of time."

"It's the way the world works," Lucius sighed.

"Then I hate our world," Harry snarled. He held up the parchment. It was a diagram, "This is what I've put together: At the top is Voldemort, he's manipulating everyone else." From the name Voldemort at the top of the parchment was a line leading to the Ministry. From the ministry there was a line to the D.W.C. and from the D.W.C. were three lines. One lead to Dumbledore, another to Rhapsody, and the last was to a series of question marks.

"Who're the question marks?" Remus asked.

"Probably whoever controls the Dementors and Azkaban," Draco explained.

Harry sent the blonde a weary smile and continued, "The D.W.C. manipulated Dumbledore into providing proof for my incarceration, they're using Rhapsody to try and divert my attentions from Voldemort, and they've got Dementors after me."

"Something's missing though," Remus noticed, "We're missing a piece."

"Which one," Harry asked.

"Why is Voldemort planning all this? We don't have his motivation, we don't know what he's using the hybrid for, we don't know why he wants to use you." Remus sighed. "I think if we knew more about the D.W.C. and the ministry we could figure out what Voldemort needs them for."

"Agreed," Snape growled, he poured a dark purplish potion into a vial and tapped it with his wand, "Blood replenishing potion, for the girl," He murmured in explanation before sitting down at his desk.

"But we can't get classified Ministry information," Lucius protested, "And Rhapsody can't get us anything if he's being manipulated himself."

Harry grimaced, "Rhapsody can't get us information, but I bet he could get us in."

"What do you mean?"

"The ministry is losing popularity with England, one of its main criticism is their lack of foreign support." Harry explained, "I was reading the other day that they're trying to set up a visit from the American ministry."

"Harry that's insane," Severus retorted, "You want to masquerade yourself as an American ministry official?"

"Actually they're negotiating with Daniel Blake, the director of Foreign affairs for the American Ministry. They want him to come visit, make a speech, then he can leave whenever." Harry glanced and Draco and his eyes light with mischief, "And Daniel Blake looks exactly like Draco."

Harry produced the newspaper from within his coat and held out the picture.

"Damn," Lucius sighed, "he does look like you Draco."

"Harry, have you completely lost your mind?" Draco sighed, "You can't be serious, we don't know anything about the American Ministry, how the hell am I going to pretended to be the director of foreign affairs?! I don't even know what that means!"

"Besides Harry even if Draco does get in how will you?"

Harry pursed his lips and skimmed quickly over the article, a smile bloomed on his face, "Mr. Blake wants to bring his secretary, Angela, along,"

"His secretary?" Draco said in disbelief.

"Apparently they're very, very close." Harry smirked.

None of the adults in the room could even think of anything to say. The whole idea was completely ridiculous.

"Harry that's mad," Lucius shook his head. "It's the silliest plan I've ever heard."

Remus tilted back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, "no one would ever think of it though."

"Remus you aren't seriously thinking…" Lucius trialed off.

The werewolf glanced at Lucius through amber eyes, "Harry is a fantastic actor so is Draco, I think they could pull it off."

"It's insane," Severus sighed.

"It's something Sirius would think up." Remus said in nostalgia, a small, sad smile lighting his features.

"How do we set it up?" Draco insisted, "How do we get there, what happens when Fudge calls the American ministry and the real Daniel Blake answers the phone?" The blonde shook his head, "You haven't got the logistics worked out yet."

Harry sighed, "Alright I guess it was a stupid plan after all."

Lucius cleared his throat, "I-um-I have a friend over at the American ministry who owes me a favor, he's a public relations officer for Daniel Blake. I helped him get out of England after he had a run in with Voldemort."

"I know a pretty good hacker, he can get us the number to Blake's section of the ministry, monitor it, and redirect the number so one of us can answer it. He can also hack into the ministry database and get us the names of people who actually work there." Remus offered.

"You can't be serious." Snape sighed in exasperation, "This can't be happening."

Draco plopped down beside Harry at the fire, "I guess it is."

Harry's face lit up, "Really?"

"Alright." Draco agreed.

Remus grinned at Harry, "James got that same look on his face when we were up to something bad."

"Except this isn't a prank, if they get found it they'll charge us with treason and throw us in Azkaban." Severus said sullenly.

"Well then we'll just have to think of it as a big prank," Harry said with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.

A/N: Hope the chapter wasn't to confusing, sorry it was so much dialogue. But next chapter does sound exciting, hah, it'll be up in the next week, so lookout for it. All reviewers get imaginary cookies.

Cause lets face it.

Imaginary cookies taste way better. Plus no ones allergic to them.

Btw please forgive typos, I literally just typed this and posted it.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I love vacations.

And Harry in drag.

Btw: yes there will be slash.

Two weeks later the plan was set.

Daniel Blake was officially coming to visit the English ministry of magic for one day on his European tour. His girlfriend and secretary, Angela, was to accompany.

Thomas Rhapsody was responsible for getting Blake to and from the ministry.

And on the morning of the visit, Draco Malfoy was all dressed up and ready to go. He was sitting in the Hogs head pub, wearing a hat to cover his newly dyed black hair and sunglasses to hide his eyes which had been outfitted with dark contacts as well. He'd gotten a spray on tan and had taken an aging potion, making him look about twenty seven rather then seventeen. He was wearing a rather ordinary suit, sipping a shot of fire whisky to calm himself down.

And Harry was no where to be found.

His newly acquired cell phone rang, Draco fumbled with it a moment before flipping it open, "Blake?"

" No, no, when you answer it you have to say Blake. No question mark." Rhapsody lectured the teen. "I've got a limo waiting, where's Harry?"

"His royal majesty isn't here yet."

"Damn, does he have the cell phone I gave him?"

Draco shrugged, "I tried calling, no answer."

"We're going to be late," Rhapsody growled sullenly.

Suddenly the door to the pub opened and standing there was a petite blonde. She was wearing a tiny white miniskirt, a pink blouse, and a white jacket. Her hair had been straightened to within an inch of it's life and while Draco knew she was wearing makeup, he couldn't actually identify what sort of makeup she was wearing. She took a step forward in her pink pumps and stumbled.

"Damn these stupid shoes," She snarled.

That gave it away.

Draco got up and waltzed over to the door, "Having fun, my lady?"

"Fuck you, Draco. You try walking in these!"

Draco laughed and wrapped an arm around Harry's waist to hold him up, "I didn't even recognize you."

"That's the point, this was such a bad idea," Harry sighed angrily.

Draco didn't say anything, but he was actually starting to believe that Harry's little scheme might actually work. They apparated to just outside Diagon Alley were Rhapsody was waiting for them in a limo. They slipped inside and nervously waited.

"Pin the identification tags onto your jackets," Rhapsody instructed them. "Remus' hacker friend got them, they're genuinely from the American ministry. Take the red pill too, it's a voice modifier, it'll make you sound American." The teen swallowed the pills and pinned the badges to their jackets.

"What if we get found out?" Draco asked.

"No idea," Rhapsody shrugged, "Pray?"

Harry rolled her eyes.

The limo pulled to a stop.

"We're here." Rhapsody sighed. "I'll be here at six to pick you up, I'll wait for fifteen minutes and then go, I can't risk getting found out."

"Understood," Harry sighed. He glanced over at Draco, "Ready?"

"Bring it on," The Slytherin sighed.

The teen slipped out of the limo, which promptly pulled away, and found themselves standing in front of a shabby red telephone booth.

"Huh? Where's the ministry?" Harry asked.

"You've been there before-oh, your memory, right," Draco said, "You don't remember."

"Nope."

"Okay, well, get in the telephone booth," Draco instructed. Harry slipped inside and Draco followed. The taller teen picked up the phone and dialed M-A-G-I-C and a voice filtered through the booth.

"Good Morning welcome to the Ministry of Magic. What is the nature of your visit?"

"Morning, this is Daniel Blake, Director of Foreign Affairs for the American Ministry of Magic, My secretary and I are here for our visit on our European tour." Draco said in a deep, authoritative voice. Harry winced and waited for the voice to announce them as fakes.

Pause.

"Of course, Minister Blake, the ministry welcomes you and Ms. Foxx." Two silver badges popped out of the telephone, one with Daniel Blake on it the other with Angela Foxx on it. They pinned on the badges and suddenly the floor dropped, Harry yelped and grabbed Draco's sleeve.

"Scary-cat," Draco teased.

"Shut up," Harry growled.

The lift stopped at the entrance of a huge hallway, lined with fire-places.

"Draco, what do I do?" Harry asked, eyes wide with fear. "I don't know what to do!"

"Follow my lead," Draco whispered, he wrapped an arm around his secretary's waist and strode confidently forward. They walked down the long hallway to a tall set of golden gates and a huge filing cabinent, seated by it was a man in wizard robes, who said.

"Mr. Blake, it is such a pleasure to welcome you to the ministry of magic!" The man said, "May I take your wands?"

"Oh we didn't bring our wands, we've heard that the ministry is very well guarded." Draco said with an easy smile and a booming voice, he was easily slipping into the role of Daniel Blake.

"That it is, sir, and who is this lovely lady," the man said to Harry.

The teen blushed and offered a hand to shake, "Angela Foxx, pleasure to meet you." To his surprise the man kissed the hand instead of shaking it.

"Pleasure's all mine, Miss Foxx." The man opened the golden gates and led them to a life. "The minister is eagerly awaiting you on Level two."

"Thank you," Draco said.

"Just doing my job, Sir."

In the lift Harry quickly adjusted his hair and clothes. He gently pushed Draco's arm from his waist and stood separate from the former blonde. "You talk first," Harry said.

"Try and act cute, we don't want to arouse suspicion,"

Harry nodded.

The doors opened.

"Welcome, Mr. Blake, it is such an honor to finally meet you." This came from Fudge. The plump man reached out and pumped Draco's hand. "And Ms. Foxx," he shook Harry's hand more gently. "We are pleased to welcome you to our Ministry of Magic."

"The pleasure's all ours, Minister Fudge, we've heard so many good things about the English Ministry that we had to come and visit." Draco laughed.

Harry didn't like Fudge, he knew the man had done bad things to him. He just couldn't remember what. The teen tried to keep the distaste off his face by throwing on a smile.

"Oh yes, we loved the entrance so much, we might just have to steal it for ourselves!" Harry joked in a higher feminine tone of voice. There were laughs all around. "So Minister, tell us, which department are we in?"

"Yes, yes, of course, this is Level one, Department of Magical Law Inforcement," Fudge said, "Shall we go to my office?"

They followed Fudge down the hall, offering smiles and waves to the wizards and witches who greeted them. They entered a large office with a desk and multiple chairs set up. All of them were occupied save for two.

"Please have a seat," Fudge said, he was sweating and bumbling around awkwardly, "Can I get either of you anything?"

"Tea would be fantastic," Draco said.

"I'm fine," Harry said politely. He sat down and surveyed the circle of men. They must be the deparment heads, all of them looked pleasant enough, for the most part they were older looking men, except one. He had cold eyes, predator's eyes and dark, longish hair. He looked to be about forty.

"These are the heads of our Departments," Fudge said, using his wand to float a cup of tea over to Draco.

The men introduced themselves, only one caught Harry's attention.

"Gerald Notting," the one with cold eyes said, "I'm the head of Magical Prison Security and Control."

"You handle Azkaban?" Harry asked suddenly.

"I do, Miss Foxx."

"I've heard so much Azkaban, tell me do you actually have those Dementor creatures?"

"Yes, of course, the Dementors are essential to our security system." He said.

Harry lowered his lashes and said rather flirtaciously, "I'd like to see Azkaban and those Dementors."

"I don't think it's appropriate for a lady-" Notting began.

"On the contrary, I'd very much appreciate if Angela could be shown Azkaban, in the US we're trying to improve our own penal system for wizards, seeing Azkaban would be most informative," Draco cut in. "Perhaps Mr. Notting can escort her while Mr. Fudge shows me the rest of the ministry."

Fudge and Notting exchanged a look.

"Of course, Miss Foxx, we can floo to Azkaban from here."

Harry smiled at Notting. He walked over to the fire and watched as Notting threw in the green power. He stepped inside and said, "Azkaban Prison." Harry stepped out of the fire in a dark, dank office. A shiver laced his spine. He'd been here before, His Godfather had been here.

"I apologize for the temperature, Azkaban always stays very cold," Mr. Notting said, "Can I offer you a coat?"

"That would be lovely," Harry said distractedly. Notting handed him a coat and Harry slipped into it. "How many prisoners are here?"

"Well in the Maximum security sections we can hold one hundred and fifty, in the lower security there's room for a thousand." Notting said, "Most wizard offenders are placed in muggle prisons for petty crimes, the serious offenders who used Magic in their crimes are brought to Azkaban."

"Do they ever leave?"

"Most don't." Notting said, his mouth a firm, hard line.

"What about that Sirius Black?" Harry asked.

"He is the only man to have ever escaped." Notting said, "So tell me, Miss Foxx, what exactly did you want to see?"

"Maximum Security, I want to see them."

"Miss Foxx, might I warn you-"

"Mr. Notting I'd appreciate your cooperation in my tour." Harry said forcefully.

Notting offered him an arm which Harry took. "Right this way Miss Foxx."

They left the office and it got colder and colder. They passed a guard who opened a set of steel doors for them and Harry shuddered as they entered maximum security. They walked down a long, cold hallway, lined with heavy iron bars, inside sat prisoners, dressed in thin, shabby robes.

Then they walked by an empty cell, Harry shuddered violently, "Who was supposed to be in here?"

"Harry Potter, you heard about his trial?"

"I read in the paper a few months ago that he was wrongly incarcerated." Harry said quietly. He let his hands rest gently on the cold iron bars and looked into the cell. He spent two years in there. But he couldn't remember any of it, he could barely remember anything before it. Just faces, blurry faces and events. It scared him. He couldn't remember most of his life, and this cell, these cold iron bars, were a testament to that.

"He was, he's now back at school, a little worse for ware."

"What about Voldemort?"

Notting looked at him for a moment, appraisingly, "Most Americans aren't aware of his existence."

"It's our job to be aware of what's going on outside the U.S." Harry said with a weak smile. "So tell me, Mr. Notting, what do you think about Voldemort?"

"I hate him, I wish there was some way we could get to him." Notting sighed, "We've been trying for years, but he just keeps outsmarting us, he's always one step ahead."

"Rumor has it that Voldemort always goes after Harry Potter, why not use the kid?" Harry insinuated, moving just a little bit closer to Notting. He had to find out if this man was with Voldemort.

"Harry Potter is a wild card, no respect for authority. He's just a child, he can't help us." Notting said, and he almost sounded regretful about it.

"That's a pity."

"It is, if he could be of use, then maybe we could finally get rid of Voldemort, and we could have some peace."

Harry immediately sympathized with the man, he sensed Notting wasn't on Voldemorts side, at least not willingly. But Notting was being manipulated by someone into using the Dementors against him. Suddenly Harry noticed something on Notting's hand, a wedding ring, "Are you married, Mr. Notting?"

"I was, my wife, she disappeared at the beginning of the summer," Notting said, his voice choked up just a bit. "She was pregnant."

"I'm so sorry."

"She might still be alive," Notting whispered, "she was seven months pregnant when she vanished, so the baby might still be too."

"That's horrible." Harry said softly. Maybe Notting was being manipulated by his wife's captors, maybe they kidnapped her to get some leverage on him.

"She worked in the ministry too, she was one of the straight arrows. She always stood up for what was right, they couldn't bribe her, not like they did the others."

Harry's eyes widened, that was the clue. "Are you aware of an organization called the D.W.C."

Notting breath sharply, "How do you know about the D.W.C?"

Harry smiled mischieviously, but his eyes remained cold, "Lucky guess. You wife worked for them didn't she?"

"She did."

"Mr. Notting can you tell me exactly who runs the D.W.C.?"

"You're asking for classified information, if I told you it would mean my death." Notting said angrily, "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm nobody important, Mr. Notting, now I know for a fact Azkaban has no monitoring devices, so no one will ever know this conversation took place." Harry looked up at Notting with intense shining eyes, "You have to help me."

"I can't. I-I-They'll hurt her if I do." Notting whispered. "I can't."

"But they'll never know! They won't know you told me, please!"

"I should turn you in now." Notting snarled. "You're trouble! If you try and stop Voldemort they'll kill my Amy! I won't let that happen!" He snatched a cell phone out of his pocket.

Harry instinctively leapt on the larger man, knocking the cell phone out of his hand. He'd just jeopardized everything, if Notting got that phone he and Draco were dead. If Notting got to that phone Voldemort won.

Notting kicked Harry in the stomach.

The teen winced and clutched his aching ribs. He gulped greedy breaths of air. Notting scrambled towards the phone. Harry tried to grab Notting's foot but the other man was too big for Harry to overpower physically.

All those spells Harry was supposed to know vanished from his mind.

He had nothing.

He was going to die.

And Draco was gonna die with him.

Voldemort would win.

"No!" Harry snarled. Silver bolts of energy laced around Notting's body, freezing him in place.

"What?" Notting whispered in shock as he toppled to the stone ground, unable to move. More of that silver static leapt from Harry's fingers into the cell phone where it fizzled and cracked in half. "What are you?"

Harry knelt over Knotting and pressed two fingers to his temples, "I'm going to help you, Mr. Notting…And now you won't remember any of this conversation."

The older man's eyes went blank, for a moment they looked dead.

Harry glanced around, no one saw them, all empty cells. He picked up the cracked cell phone and tossed it into a cell. He looked down at Notting and took a deep breath, "Mr. Notting are you alright?"

"What?" The man asked.

"You must've tripped on a loose stone, you took quiet a fall!" Harry said sympathetically.

"Oh, yes, well, easy to trip, I suppose." Mr. Notting said as he got to his feet. "I'm sorry what were we talking about?"

"Just the security upkeep at Azkaban, it's very impressive."

"Thank you, Miss Foxx, we take the up most pride in our security measures."

"You know it's getting pretty late, maybe we should head back to the Ministry." Harry suggested.

"Yes, of course, I know you and Mr. Blake are visiting France later tonight?"

"Oh, yes, we're going to continue our European Tour and visit the French ministry this evening."

An hour later Harry and Draco were back in the ministry, exchanging formalities with the minister, everything had gone according to plan. A problem arose when Fudge was called out of the office by a fresh-faced secretary.

"Sir there's been a phone call for you," The secretary said.

Fudge shot a confused look at Draco and Harry before slipping out, "Excuse me a moment Mr. Blake."

The moment the door closed Harry dashed up and pressed an ear to the door.

"Fudge we got a call from a Daniel Blake saying he didn't arrange any visit for today."

"Draco we gotta get outta here." Harry snapped.

"How?" Draco snarled in return, "There's only one door!"

Harry glanced frantically around, "No way, Fudge would have a secret way out in case the ministry ever was invaded."

"Here!" Draco said, pointing at a bookshelf, "Harry, spell it!"

"What?"

"Just use your magic!"

Harry slipped off his heels and ran over to the bookcase, he touched it and one of the books began to glow. Draco yanked the book away from the shelf and with a quiet sound the bookshelf parted down the center.

The door began to open.

Draco and Harry raced into the bookshelf and heard it close behind them.

They found themselves in a short passage that led to a lift.

Behind them in the office they could hear raised voices.

"What do we do?" Harry whispered, "They've probably got the whole ministry alerted now! We can't use the lift!"

Draco thought a brief moment. And then said, "Into the lift,"

The two of them scrambled into the lift and Draco felt the ceiling of the lift for a trap door. He quickly found and opened it and lifted Harry through the door. "Draco shouldn't be going down?"

The other teen crawled up through the trap door and joined Harry atop the lift.

"No, the ministry's underground, we're at the lowest levels," Draco explained. "This is a secret lift, it opens up in a broom closet on the second floor."

"We climb?" Harry asked, grabbing the elevator cable.

Draco nodded.

They started to climb quickly up the thick cable. About fifteen feet up they ran into a ceiling, Harry quickly found a trap door, swung it open and shimmied into a small closet.

"Wait, wait this is where the Aurors are!" Harry gasped. "This is level two!"

Draco didn't say anything.

"Draco?"

"Harry, take out your contacts and change your hair color,"

Harry quickly ran his fingers through his hair and thought of it turning brown and returning to its natural curls. Then he touched Draco's hair and thought of red. The teen took out his contact lenses and magically changed his eyes to a pale brown. They shed their suit jackets and slipped out of the broom closet.

No one spared them a second glance, nor did they notice Harry didn't even have shoes on. They walked slowly past the bustling Aurors to the second floor lifts. Once the doors closed and the lift began to move Harry heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank god." Draco sighed.

"Draco we have to go to the ninth level." Harry said.

"Why?"

"That's the Department of Mysteries, please Draco I have to go there!"

"No, come on, Harry, think! We're practically home-free! We can't risk it!" Draco insisted.

"We'll never get in here again, Draco. We have to try it."

"Why, what's so important there?"

Harry looked up at Draco with wide shining eyes "I just have a feeling, please Draco."

"Fine."

Harry grinned and hit level nine. The lift jerked past level eight and the doors opened. Now Draco followed Harry out of the lift and across the landing to a door. They walked inside and behind them the door closed with a soft click. "Draco, I need you to guard the door. If the Aurors come, then hide and meet me at the lift."

Draco didn't argue, there was something in Harry's eyes that convinced him that Harry needed to do this alone. "Don't be long."

"I won't be."

Harry walked quickly down the hallway, somehow his feet knew exactly where he should go. He entered a round room and when it started rotating he held his ground. He waited until the room stopped moving and opened one of the door. He knew exactly where he was.

This was the Death Chamber.

All around him were raised stone benches and in the center were a sunken pit and a dais. On the dias was a crumbling archway and suspended on it was a tatter veil of soft, silver cloth.

"Sirius." Harry whispered. His feet ran towards the veil.

The teen stood on the dais, a hand on the ancient archway. "Are you there?"

"Harry," The word echoed all around the room.

A tear trickled down the teen's face; that was Sirius' voice. "Hey, Sirius."

"Jesus, Harry, how'd you get down here?"

Harry laughed and sat down in front of the veil, "it's a long story."

"Care to tell?" Sirius asked, laughter thick in his voice.

"I don't think I have time, see me and Draco-"

"Draco?!" Sirius gasped.

"No, no, see we're friends now, Sirius. Hell, I've got so much to say, Siri. But not enough time." Harry felt like crying, he almost did.

"Time moves differently in the department of mysteries, trust me Harry, we have enough time."

And Harry started to talk. For the first time ever he told someone everything. He told Sirius about Azkaban, and then about Remus, and Lucius, and Malfoy Manner, and Quetzal, and Draco, and Severus, and Dumbledore, and the D.W.C. At the end Harry was crying.

For a moment Sirius was silent. "I hate to say it, Harry but you've caused even more trouble then I did."

Harry laughed weakly, "I don't know what to do. I still don't know so much. I don't know why Voldemort wants me dead, I mean I guess because I'm prophesized to kill him, but I know there's something more.

"I-I-I have to kill Voldemort if I'm gonna live and I have to use people and hurt people and I don't want to! I don't want to hurt anybody, I just wanna live."

"Harry," Sirius said warmly, "you had to grow up faster then most kids, and I'm sorry, we're all sorry you have to suffer through this before you're ready to. But you're the one who has to."

"Why?"

"Because you're special, you're the only one strong enough to do it."

Harry sighed and buried his face in his hands.

"Are you afraid of death, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"A little," Harry responded, "There's still things I wanna do."

"If you want to live, then you will. You'll find some way to do it." Sirius explained. "The one with the strongest will to live will survive."

"What about you? You wanted to live," Harry argued.

"Honestly? I didn't want to live that badly. I wanted things to be the way they were before Voldemort got to us. I wanted to live back at Hogwarts with James and Remus and even Peter. I wanted all that back, more then I wanted to live." Sirius sighed.

Harry looked up and wanted desperately to see the sky, something alive and blue above him. Instead all he could see were gray stones. "I want to make a world where people look up and see blue skies instead of gray ones."

"Yeah, that's something worth fighting for," Sirius agreed, Harry could hear the smile in his voice. "Through that door is a room called the time room, there's a clock in there, a pocket watch, you need it."

"Is it a time turner?" Harry asked.

"No, it's just a watch, Your parents and I spent months trying to find it." Sirius laughed.

"My parents! But how did you get a watch, I mean your dead…"

"Not dead, just in another plane of being," Sirius said, mischief lighting his voice, "We found this watch when we were in our seventh year, I'm not sure how to describe what it does, but it'll help you Harry. It'll show you what needs to be done, I'm sure of it."

"In the time room?"

"Yeah, at the end of the room, between two grandfather clocks," Sirius sighed, "I guess this is goodbye again."

"Yupp," Harry roughly wiped tears from his eyes, "I hate this world."

"But you've got the power to change it,"

The teen brushed his fingers against the veil, "But I can't have what I really want, can I? I can't have my family back, I can't have a normal life, I can't just exist."

"You have a family, Harry." Sirius smiled, "You'll realize how much you have soon enough."

"I'll come back here, when all this is over….if I'm still alive." Harry told Sirius. "I'll come back."

"I know you will, now you have to go, the Aurors are coming."

"Shit! They'll be at the lift soon!" Harry gasped.

"Draco's coming here now, in the time room, open the largest clock and just tell it where you want to go." Sirius instructed. "And Harry, in London look for Mad-Eye Moody, he'll be able to help you!"

Harry stood up and touched the veil one last time, "Goodbye Sirius."

"Bye, Harry, take care."

"I'll come back, Sirius, I promise."

With that Harry ran out of the chamber, feeling a sort of warmth around him. Suddenly he heard someone yell his name, he found Draco standing in the doorway from which he'd entered.

"Harry the Aurors are coming!"

"C'mon!" Harry yelled back.

The two teens ran into the time room and found themselves confronted with a room full of clocks. Clocks of all sizes and shapes hung from the walls, ticks filling the air. The room was light by the shimmer of light that was reflected off the metal clocks, but Harry wasn't paying attention to the room, he was focused only on finding the pocket watch Sirius had told him about. He saw the two grandfather clocks and suddenly spotted the watch, it was small and silver, with intricate carvings of vines on the clocks surface.

Harry grabbed the stopwatch from the wall and suddenly all the tick stopped.

"Harry?" Draco whispered.

The room was utterly silent.

Then they heard the Aurors yelling. They were in the death chamber.

Harry yanked open the glass front of the largest grandfather clock and grabbed Draco's arm, pulling them both inside the clock. "Diagon Alley!" Harry shouted. As the doors to the Time Room began to open and Aurors flooded in, Draco and Harry vanished in a flash of light.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them he was looking at Draco's chest with his arms clutching the taller teen's shoulders. "Are we dead?"

"I don't think so."

The green eyed teen suddenly looked up at Draco and smiled. Suddenly Harry whispered, "How about we make sure?"

"Wha-"

Before Draco could speak Harry got to his tip toes and pressed his lips against Draco's in an instant so brief it could barely be considered a kiss.

Harry lowered himself to his feet, eyes never leaving Draco's. And in those icy blues Harry saw something like a sunrise.

"I'd say we're alive."

Draco opened his mouth but no words actually came out, he cleared his throat and tried again, "alive is good."

"Now, Sirius said we should look for a guy called Moody."

"Mad-Eye Moody?" Draco asked.

"Yupp."

"Shouldn't you change first?" The Slytherin asked.

Harry glanced down at himself and realized he was still dressed as a girl, "Good idea," The teen also took the enchantments off their hair and eyes. They looked like themselves again. "But we don't have any money."

Draco grinned and reached into his pocket and brought out a piece of plastic.

"What's that?" Harry asked. "Can you eat it?"

The blonde rolled his eyes, "You ditz, it's a credit card."

"oh…"

"It's muggle money."

"No, it's plastic."

Draco sighed and grabbed Harry's arm, "c'mon let's go buy you some guy clothes and then we'll find mad-eye."

"We should call Remus and Lucius and Sev too," Harry commented.

Draco laughed, "I bet Remus already had a heart attack."

A/N: finally some slash…wow that was along chapter. Any who please review, all reviews get hot chocolate and mittens, and scarves cause I think scarves are freakin adorable.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N:. I love all my reviewers, special shout out to manx for making me feel smily.

Buying clothes for Harry proved to be extremely awkward.

Especially when Draco had to explain to the cashier that his girlfriend whom he was buying clothes for was actually a guy in drag.

But they did finally get out of the store, Harry happily wearing black jeans and a white shirt. But for some bizarre reason the boy who lived felt an inexplicable need to buy a checkered black and white scarf. The worst part of the whole scarf issue was how damn cute Draco though Harry looked in said scarf.

Calling Remus resulted in the werewolf almost fainting on the phone accompanied by Severus yelled at them and Lucius offering the other two adults shots of fire whisky. Basically they ended the call by quickly telling Remus they would be staying in London for the weekend and hanging up before he could yell at them.

"This is fantastic!" Harry laughed, "Just you and me in London for the weekend! I've never been to London!"

"Great," Draco agreed nervously, "Just you and me…" The blonde was becoming more and more uncomfortable around Harry. He liked Harry, like liked him. In the way that friends didn't usually like each other….it was more of an I-wanna-shag-you-rotten way.

"So listen I think we should go try n' find Moody first," Harry said.

Draco just nodded and tried not to look at Harry at all. If he looked he might end up starring.

"Oh wow!" Harry gasped.

The blonde glanced over at Harry and immediately regretted it. The teen looked adorable, his eyes were huge, his hair was a wild tangle of curls, and that stupid scarf made him look even cuter. Draco finally shook his head and tried to focus on what Harry was gasping at. "Oh the Ferris Wheel?"

Harry was gaping at the steel construction like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. The Ferris Wheel did look pretty, but at night when the whole city was alight, it looked spectacular.

"We have to go on it!"

Draco grinned, "Nah, it's way better at night,"

Harry smiled, "Sounds cool, so we'll come back tonight?"

"Yeah, ya know where we should go too?

The Gryffindor looked up at him with those big eyes.

"Hyde Park, it's nice this time of year." Draco said, looking quickly away from Harry.

"How do we get there?"

"Jesus, Harry, the metro?" Draco sighed, waiting for some recognition to flash in Harry's eyes. Nothing, "you are so sheltered, come on."

As they walked down the street, Draco couldn't help but notice that Harry wasn't behind him. The blonde glanced over his shoulder and found the smaller teen walking fancifully along, looking around like he was a toddler.

The taller teen his eyes, "Harry, you ditz."

"Oh, sorry, Draco! There's just so much stuff!" Harry grinned. Suddenly Draco grabbed the smaller teens hand and shoved the other in his pocket.

"Now you won't get lost." Draco said gruffly.

Harry looked down at their joined hands and smiled.

It felt nice to have someone hold his hand.

XoXoXo

They spent the majority of the afternoon strolling around London and seeing the sights. Well more like Harry gawking at things and dragging a very uncomfortable Draco around London. By four they were waltzing through Diagon Ally. Harry had taken a quick precaution of spelling their eyes and hair; they looked the same as they had during their escape from the Department of Mysteries.

"Harry, we're going to get caught if we look like this," Draco snarled, "Change us!"

The now brunette rolled his eyes, "We should keep one appearance for this whole weekend, chances are we'll probably do something else illegal."

They walked into Diagon Ally and were struck at how empty the streets were. They both knew it was because of the attack. Most of the shops were still open though.

"So who's this Mad-Eye Moody?" Draco asked.

"No idea, but Sirius said he could help us so I'm guessing he's a wizard." Harry explained, glancing around the streets, looking for the right shop to ask about Moody in. "Here!" He pulled Draco into a book shop.

"Excuse me," Harry said loudly.

"How can I help you?" The manager asked, the polite words were undermined by his brusque manner.

"Um, well, we're looking for a wizard by the name of Mad-Eye Moody." Harry said with a polite smile.

The manager looked at them for the first time since they'd come in. "Get out!" He spat.

"What?" Harry asked, "What did we do?"

"Don't act all coy, everyone knows what he did!" The manager hissed, "Defended that traitorous Potter boy."

"Potter was proven innocent." Draco growled all of the sudden, stepping in front of Harry. "Look we don't even know who-" he gasped and his eyes went wide. "Alastor Moody?"

"What other Moody is there?!" The manager yelled, "Out!"

Draco grabbed Harry's arm and hauled the smaller teen out of the store.

"What was that!" Harry insisted as the door to the shop closed behind them, "Whose Moody? You said you didn't know him!"

"Alastor Moody defended you when you were on trial, the ministry-well…." Draco sighed, "You don't need to hear about it."

Harry elegantly raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, "Yes I do."

"He-He committed perjury, he produced false evidence that would've cleared you. He got found out and the ministry held him for a week, no one knows what they did to him." Draco explained, he began to walk away from Harry. He avoided looking at the smaller teen, he knew exactly what kind of sadness would be in Harry's eyes. The boy-who-lived was infamous for feeling guilty for things completely out of his control.

"They tortured him." Harry said calmly, walking after Draco, "Didn't they?"

"Probably," Draco said slowly, he looked directly into Harry's eyes, they were clam and serene. There was no guilt there or horror at the mention of torture. All he saw was a collected, almost cold look in those orbs. Draco continued, "When they released him Moody cursed the whole ministry and the wizarding world. No ones seen him since. They issued a formal apology after you were found innocent, but there was no response from him."

Harry stopped walking abruptly and dug something from his pocket. He produced the silver pocket watch with a smile, "Sirius said this would help us out."

"How's a watch gonna help?"

Honestly, the smaller teen had no idea, but he never the less opened the watch and watched it. "Draco what time is it?"

"Um-" Draco glanced at the high floating clock in the alley, "three exactly."

"Huh, that's funny, the pocket watch says 2:59," Harry said, eyes fixated on the clock.

"It's just a bit slow then."

"No…wait." Harry whispered.

Draco glanced at the watch.

The minute hand hit twelve and the hour hand hit three and suddenly the clock emitted a tiny, bright glow and Harry yelped, "It's warm!"

"That's bizarre." Draco said, perplexed, he touched the pocket watch and had to agree it was warm. "I wonder what it means."

Harry's eyes lit up. "Hot and cold! Draco it's a game! Walk with me, touch the watch." They walked farther up the alley and the watch got colder.

"What does that mean?" Draco asked in mild irritation, "we don't have time for games."

The smaller teen rolled his eyes, "just shut up and follow me, I know where to go." Harry turned in the opposite direction and walked until the watch became so hot that he had to hold it with his sleeve around his hand. "This is it." The watch cooled down to normal temperature and Harry slid it into his pocket.

"What's it?"

Harry looked up, "This is…this is the junk shop."

Draco's head whipped towards the other teen, "How did you know that? We've never been here…oh god, you remembered?"

The other teen grinned, "I guess so, maybe my memories starting to come back." He walked into the shop with a nervous Draco trialing behind.

So Harry was regaining his memories, Draco knew he was supposed to feel happy, but anxiety was slithering up his throat. What if Harry remember about Draco? What if Harry decided he wanted to go back to his old friends. The thought of loosing Harry left Draco feeling oddly hollow inside.

"Hello?"

The manager was a small, bustling man with a large grin, "Hello there, how can I help you?"

"We're looking for someone." Harry said quietly, searching in the shopkeepers eyes for some flicker of acknowledgement.

There was one, a big one. "We only sell used goods here."

Harry grinned, catching on quickly, "That's perfect, what we're looking for is quite weathered."

"Ah, well then, I have exactly what you're looking for, down in the basement! Follow me."

The two teens followed the small man to the back of the over-crowded store and down a narrow, winding flight of stairs into a dimly lit basement with the walls covered in book shelves.

"So, my boys, what flavor of missing person are you looking for?"

Draco blinked in confusion.

The manager noticed and laughed, "In the junk business sometimes I find old records of people, friends, relatives, convicts, whoever. I collect them you see and hide them down here. Anyone in the wizarding world you need to find is in one of these books."  
"How?" Draco asked.

"Think of it like a computer."

"A what?"

The shopkeeper laughed again, "Never mind. See these books have, copied inside them, all the ministry records on every living or dead witch or wizard. See, all British wizards are given tag spells that monitor their movements. The ones of us who don't have them are the ones who've never been discovered and the ones who're from foreign countries."

Harry traced the spine of one book, "How did you get copies of ministry records?"

"I worked there once, I was an unspeakable."

Draco eye twitched, "and what did you do?"

The shopkeepers eyes dulled and a slow, sad smile spread across his face. "Unspeakable things."

Harry looked over at the small man and asked quietly, "why did you leave?"

"Unspeakable reasons."

"And why do you help find people?"

"Penance," The manager said quietly.

The shopkeeper's eyes darkened and suddenly went pure black, they bore holes into Harry's. Harry whimpered as that gaze caused a terrible pounding that migrated from the base of his skull to right between his eyes. He stumbled and lurched backwards, Draco luckily caught Harry before he hit the ground.

"What are you doing?" Draco snarled.

The shopkeepers eyes returned to their normal friendly blue, "You can do wandless magic."

Harry's eyes filled with fear as he shakily regained his balance with one of Draco's arms around his waist. "How did you know?" Harry asked in a trembling voice.

"Unspeakables do."

"If you turn him him, I'll kill you," Draco hissed vehemently.

The manager shrugged, "You don't have the skills, Kiddo. He looked at them once more, "What's the boy-who-lived doing with a Malfoy? Now that's an interesting story, if only we had the time, now, who can I help you find?"

"Are you going to turn us in?" Harry asked.

"I need blackmail on all my customers so they don't turn me in." The shopkeeper said.

"Interesting form of penance," Draco muttered darkly, releasing Harry, watching to make sure the teen could stand on his own, "shouldn't you just trust people?"

"Blind faith doesn't get a man too far."

"We're looking for Alastor Moody."

The shopkeeper nodded. "Follow me."

The did, through several rows of books until they finally stopped at the M volumes. The shopkeeper thumbed through the heavy volumes and finally stopped at A. "Alastor Moody."

A page materialized in the air and in the middle was Alaster Moody.

"Wow." Harry whispered.

"Thames alley, flat 204." The manager announced. "That's where you'll find him."

"That's it?" Draco asked.

"That's it." The manager agreed.

Suddenly there was a loud bang on the door upstairs. "Ministry." The shopkeeper gasped. "Get out of here!"

"How?" Harry whispered.

"The watch is a portkey, touch it and tell it to take you to Thames Alley, flat 204." The manager whispered loudly.

"Will you be okay?" Harry asked.

The shopkeeper smiled, "I can take care of myself, and you take care of that watch, it's special."

Harry smiled and took the watch out of his pocket. His parents got this watch to him, Sirius and his parents. "Yeah it is." Draco wrapped his arms around Harry's shoulders and the smaller teen whispered, "Thames Alley flat 204."

And they vanished in a blur of light.

A/N: oh my god! A gay porn producer murdered in his own home! How terrible! Less gay porn! sniffle yeah a commercial for the news just came on tv and I heard that.

Okay so new chapters maybe up soon, so yeah, reviews are appreciated as always.


	16. Chapter 16

a/n: well I promised myself I wouldn't start a new story until I finished this one. So now I wanna finish. But see I can't cause I need to finish the action and stuff. So in this chapter, a crucial piece of information will fall into place, cause moody knows all. cue dramatic music

In a heartbeat and a soft flare of light, Harry and Draco were standing in a dimly light, dank little Alley. The salty, fresh scent of the river hung heavy in the air. Harry gently, and almost regretfully, shrugged Draco's arms off his shoulders and scanned the dark townhouses for 204. They stood directly in front of it. The door was only a few steps away.

"This is it," Harry grinned. "Moody's the final piece of the puzzle. He'll tell us exactly what we need to know." A hand on his arm, kept him from walking towards the door.

"Wait, Harry," Draco said softly, "You don't have to do this."

"Draco, what're you talkin' about?" The smaller teen growled, he jerked his arm away. "I want to."

"You don't need to know any of this, it's not your job to save the world, Harry. We can just go home, go back to Hogwarts."

The Gryffindors eyes widened and his lips twisted in outrage, "If you haven't been paying attention, it is my fucking job to save the world!" Harry snarled and then sarcastically added, "Hi, my names Harry Potter, did you hear that I'm the only one who can kill Voldemort, you know-the dark fucking lord!"

Draco shook his head, brushing his hair out of his eyes, "That's bullshit, Harry. C'mon it makes no sense, why the fuck would Voldemort have any interest in some teenager."

Harry's eyes lowered to the ground, a cool emptiness filled the rage that had been building inside his throat. "That's the final piece, isn't it?"

"What?" The slytherin asked.

"Why does Voldemort care so much about me? That's the question, that's the reason for all this. That's the piece that'll finish the puzzle."

"No, you still need to know who's in charge of the D.W.C." Draco said pointedly. "Whoever's in charge of that is working directly for Voldemort."

Harry glanced over his shoulder and smiled warily, "I bet Voldemort himself is in charge of the ministry. It makes perfect sense. He organizes the D.W.C. from the shadows and the D.W.C. controls everything else."

Draco shrugged, "And what about the unspeakables, who do they work for?"

The dark haired teen paused, "You know, I'm not sure about that either." He grinned suddenly, "Maybe I'll find out."

"Not we?" Draco's voice was carefully neutral.

Harry paused, he looked to the sky for a moment. The air was dark, the moon hung over them. He didn't want to be alone, he wanted to hold out his hand to Draco and kiss him. He wants, more then anything else, something to protect him from all the bad things in this world. And he knows Draco could be that something. "No, not we," Harry whispered, his voice carried on the wind.

"Because you don't want me to get hurt?" Draco asked, his voice held an amused lilt, it was a bitter sort of lilt.

"No, not because I wanna keep you safe. Not because it's my burden to bear. Not because I'm the only one who can kill the big bad wolf." Harry turned around and walked over to Draco and wound his arms around the taller teen's neck. "Because, he destroyed my family, my childhood, he killed everything I loved. I wanna know why, I deserve to know why." Harry looked into Draco's dace, eyes blazing with so many emotions Draco couldn't even begin to identify. "It's my reason."

Draco just looked down at the petite teen in his arms and resisted the urge to sigh. Harry was so cute looking, it was easy to forget sometimes how angry he was. How much he'd lost, how much Voldemort tormented him, how much those damn relatives of his fucked him up. "I'll yell if I see the cops coming."

Harry grinned, a soft, warm smile, but his eyes were so bright and so ready to hurt someone, anyone. "Thank you," with those soft words, he turned and walked over to the door, knocking softly on it.

The Slytherin sat down on the sidewalk with a sigh. He heard the door open with a soft click and close with another one. Draco looked to the sky and took a deep breath, the truth was, he didn't want Harry to know. He wanted to take Harry and run away, take him to America or something, somewhere far away from all this dark lord shit. He knew somewhere deep inside that if Harry ever learned why Voldemort wanted him dead, if Harry ever learned the truth….then he'd remember everything. He'd loose that beautiful innocence, the light in his eyes.

"But then again, some things are too pretty to last."

Inside the little flat, Harry looked around at the yellowed walls and found himself face to face with a bizarre looking man. His eyes were mismatched, one of them was an ordinary brown and the other was a bright, piercing blue that roamed around in its socket. "Are you Mad-eye Moody?" Harry asked carefully, backing up against the door. He really wished Draco was here.

"Who're you?"

"H-Harry Potter."

The man glared at him, "There's no way, I remember Potter and you aren't him!"

Harry timidly pushed his bangs off his forehead and displayed his scar. "It faded a bit, but it's still here."

Moody glared at the scar for a good minute before deciding, "So you are, what're you doing here?"

"I need answers," Harry said quietly.

The other man glared and walked down the hall, "Come on, if you want answers you deserve the whole story."

Harry followed the man down the hall and into what was probably once a kitchen, posted all over the wall were newspaper clipping, pictures, and bright green string connecting all the pictures. "What is this?"

"Chimera," Moody breathed, "I've been building it since you were incarcerated. I knew that you were innocent, everyone knew, but they locked you up anyway. Nobody wondered why, but I did. I figured it out. It's cause of your blood, Harry."

The teen spotted a picture of his parents on the wall and walked over to it. They looked so happy together, he gently traced it with his fingertips and followed the bright green string down to a picture of himself. "What's so special about my blood?"

"It's chimera blood."

Harry glanced at the smaller man over his shoulder, "I don't understand."

"Your mother wasn't human, she was less then a quarter human." Moody said. As the man spoke, Harry's eyes widened. He followed the green string up from the picture of his parents, to a family, his mother's family. He saw his aunt and his mother as children. "I don't know how far back it goes, but there's chimera blood in your mothers line, and chimera blood never goes away, once it gets into a bloodline it stays there-forever."

"So what does chimera blood do?"

"Mixed with magic, it makes an extremely powerful wizard. It makes them do wandless magic, makes their magic stronger, protects them, it does a lot." Moody explained. "It also explains why Voldemort's after you."

Harry glanced quizzically at him.

"Follow the green line."

Harry did.

He followed it up from Lily's family up to her father, and through his family, and then to Lily's mother-woman named Andrea Riddle. Harry's eyes widened violently, "Riddle?" He whispered. He followed the string from Andrea to her brother, Tom Riddle. And from Tom Riddle to Tom Marvalo Riddle. "Voldemort and me…we've got the same blood, don't we?"

"Voldemort wants you blood, all of it. He wants to make himself a man with Chimera blood. It's poisonous to put the blood from an actual chimera into a human. But when chimera blood is born into a human body, it's purified-made safe for humans."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "So the dark lord wants to drink my blood?"

"Basically, yeah."

The teenager sighed, "He killed my family over my blood?"

"What, does that disappoint you?" Moody asked.

"Well…I was just expecting something more….dramatic, I guess." Harry threw his head back and heaved another sigh. "He wants my blood, it's so simple-so stupid. He's got chimera blood too, right?"

"Yupp, that's why he's so hard to kill, the chimera blood give shim regenerative abilities. You're the only other one in England with chimera blood, the Riddle family has been selectively breeding for years to get a child whose blood was as saturated as possible with chimera blood."

"I'm that child," Harry moaned, "Jesus fucking Christ."

Moody handed him a cup of tea and sighed, "You've been waiting to hear this reason for the past-what six years? All you've wanted was to know why…and now your disappointed."

"I just thought maybe it was some kinda curse, or some stupid prophecy…not….blood." Harry took a sip of tea.

"Things are never as exciting as we want them to be." Moody said. "I'm sorry, Harry."

"So Voldemort is in charge of the ministry?"

Moody nodded, "Pretty much, he tells the D.W.C. what to do and they tell the unspeakables who to kill."

"I still have to kill him?"

"It takes a chimera to slay a chimera." Moody said. "Wait a minute." He walked over to a drawer and returned a moment later with a small knife in his hand. "This little beauty has saved my life, more times then I can count. See wizards are stupid. They think cause they have a wand, they can't bleed. Well, the can." Moody grinned at him.

"Thank you." Harry said with a weak smile. He tucked it into his pocket and looked up at Moody. "I should go now…"

"The watch will tell you how to find him."

Harry took the watch out of his pocket and looked up at Moody. Harry yelped in pain as the watch suddenly heated up in his palm. He flipped it open and gasped. All three hands of the clock were pointing to twelve and it was chiming softly. "What does it mean?"

"It means it's time."

Harry nodded and shivered, he knew it would come down to this. He knew he'd have to kill Voldemort someday. But he never thought that day would actually come, he'd never thought of that day.

A/N: …weird and lame chapter, yes. But that's okay. Sorry its so short, no beta, so sorry, next chapter will be the last one, it'll be longer promise, but please review and tell me whatcha think!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: so last chapter…..duh nuh nuh nuuuuuuuhhhhh. Oh quick warning, I did rate this fic mature for a reason, so do consider that before continuing.

For the third time that day Harry was enveloped in a familiar bloom of white light.

Moody's home simply melted away and Harry watched pensively though the film of light. His eyes started blankly forward, he was barely aware that the department of mysteries was quickly dripping into place around him.

The soft light around him dispersed, like a flame extinguished by a hushed breath.

He was standing in the death chamber, completely alone.

The teen sighed and quickly removed the enchantments on his hair and eyes. It didn't matter if the ministry caught him now. It was death at their hands or Voldemort's--and his blood would spill red either way. He knew it didn't make a difference, but somehow he felt better knowing that his eyes were green.

A wry smile pulled at Harry's lips as he noticed his surroundings, "This is ironic." He said to no one in particular. For a moment he felt a crippling urge to sit down next to the veil and sob. He wanted to cry to Sirius and beg his Godfather to kill him, save him or kill him.

Harry took a deep breath and stifled the urge, along with the nausea creeping up his throat, and the fear that was sending shivers up and down his spine. He ignored the anxiety that was pooling at the back of his head and the desire to run or scream or cry—anything to make shut his brain down. Then he wouldn't have to think.

Instead he looked around the room for any sign that this was where he was supposed to be. It was just an empty room made of dark gray stone. There was nothing different—no signs to tell him where to go. He took the watch out of his pocket and held it in his hand, walking back and forth. The watch remained cool to the touch. But the hands were now both at two, he had time.

So the Gryffindor walked up to the Dias where the veil stood and he looked at the veil for a moment.

He lay down on the cold stone, hoping it would calm him down.

He curled his fingers under his head, briefly reveling in the comforting feel of his hair in his fingers. The sky above him was a deep, lonely, dark gray. It awakened a fire in him, a burning desire to see blue…to look at his future and see something other then death.

At first the change was subtle, the stone started to soften and the chamber seemed to get warmer. Then it was obvious, the gray melted away and was replaced by a rich, pale blue, the ground was coated in soft green grass. And he wasn't alone.

He looked over and saw a familiar figure sitting beside him. It was a man in his late thirties with longish black hair that curled around his shoulder, bright blue eyes, wearing an impish smirk on his face. "Nice place, huh?"

"Sirius!" Harry gasped. "You look…different."

His godfather laughed, "I should—this is how I'm supposed to. I hate to tell you, kiddo, but this is all an illusion."

"Isn't everything beautiful?"

Sirius shrugged, "Still, it makes you happy doesn't it?"

Harry looked up at the sky again and saw a pale white cloud float past. "Yeah, it does."

"So this is it." The older man said.

"This is it." Harry agreed.

"You wanna talk about it?"

The teen sighed, "If I do I'll probably cry or something…and I won't be able to stop."

Sirius nodded in understanding, "S'okay, but you should talk about it someday, when it's all over. But let me just tell you this; Bad things do happen, and sometimes they're just so awful, that you don't think they'll ever pass. But they do, and no matter how bad things get, there's life on the other side of them—life worth living."

"Being back at that house, back and Grimmauld, that was a bad thing?"

His godfather sighed, "It was a nightmare, honest to God, Harry, it was as bad as Azkaban, maybe even worse because of all the memories it bought back."

"Bad memories?"

"Just more nightmares."

Harry was silent.

"Sometimes I'm actually glad I died. I'm glad, can you imagine that? It was just so painful, though. Even seeing Remus, every time I saw him I couldn't help but remember how things were, and how they should've been." Sirius shook his head and brought himself out of whatever daze he'd been in. "Harry, all I want for you and all your parents ever wanted for you—was a life. A real life, and you can still have one, it isn't too late."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked quietly, "I don't have a family, I've got an incredibly fucked up childhood, and even if I do live, what cost will it be at? After I kill Voldemort, Death Eaters will be captured, some will be killed, some tortured…I bet their corpses will hang in the fucking streets. It'll be a mess."

Sirius smirked a little bit, "Would you kill Voldemort? And not to save your own life, not to save the world, but if I tied him up and gave you a knife would you?"

Harry paused, "Yeah."

"That's a little bit inconsistent, isn't it? You sympathize with Death Eathers, most of whom are murderers, but not with Voldemort?"

The teen frowned in confusion, "Well I-"

"You'll understand later, but for now it's enough just to realize that inconsistency is there."

"What does it mean?" Harry asked.

Sirius shrugged, "means you're human."

"oh."

"And you do have a family, Remus loves you like his own son, and I hate to say it but Snivelly and Lucius care too. Draco loves you."

Harry sighed, "I guess."

"So the question is, how bad do you want it? How much does this life mean to you?" Sirius asked, a soft smile on his face.

The teen took a moment to think. He didn't think about his family, or about his loved ones. He didn't think about all the lives at stake, well the whole wizarding world, or even how his own life was at stake. He thought about the Ferris Wheel in London that was right by the river Thames. He remembered how badly he wanted to ride it. "If I die," Harry mused aloud, "I'll never be able to ride that Ferris Wheel."

Sirius laughed, "Nope."

Harry grinned at his Godfather, "Well I guess that means I'll have to stay alive."

"I guess it does." Sirius agreed.

A soft chiming erupted from Harry's pocket. "Shit," Harry sighed, "I have to go." He started to sit up when a soft touch on his shoulder made him look back at Sirius. His godfather was smiling sadly at him. "Will I see you again?"

"Sorry, kiddo, but if all goes well, then the ministry will be a heap of rubble."

"No!" Harry gasped, "But then….then I'll never see you again…"

Sirius shrugged, "Maybe—maybe not, but that's not the point, Harry." He got to his feet and brushed a few blades of grass off his clothes. "The point is, you've got a big, bad monster to face, and I know it's scary." Sirius smiled and offered Harry a hand, "But we're behind you, every step of the way." And for a moment Harry could've sworn he saw the faces of his parents flicker on top of Sirius, and he could've sworn he felt a motherly kiss on his cheek, and a father's hug.

Harry grinned and took his Godfather's hand.

Sirius' smile bloomed in a toothy grin and his lips soundlessly formed the word, "Goodbye," as he and the meadow around Harry quickly faded.

Once again the teen stood in the Death Chamber.

"Bye," Harry told them softly.

The watch chimed again and Harry took it out of his pocket. The hands were fixed on twelve. It was time. But where to go? Harry glanced around the vast chamber and once again saw nothing to help.

Suddenly the watch floated into the air and started zooming towards the time room. Harry watched it, momentarily dumb-founded, before trotting after it. He snatched the watched from the air and hurried into the time room.

The hands of every clock were on twelve, and they were chiming softly.

Harry looked around for the Grandfather clock that was a portkey, he found it quickly and touched it. He didn't move anywhere. "Um…" Harry thought aloud, "Oh," Then he stepped inside the massive clock and told it, "I need to go to where Voldemort is."

Instead of white light, dark, thick clouds seemed to envelop him and a loud ripping sound filled the air. The sound became deafening, and it permeated through every cell of Harry's body. The teenager winced as he felt it start at his toes and his fingers, and quickly it climbed, touching every organ, making every cell shriek in pain.

Harry felt his body shut down, he felt it creep up his neck, down his throat, and it filled his ears. And then it went past his eyes—into his brain.

And then it stopped.

Silence, silent shrieks of protest emanated from every inch of his body.

And then something snapped inside Harry's brain, so loudly and so fiercely that everything screamed harder and louder. And then Harry screamed too.

And then there were faces, so many faces, faces he'd known since he was born, faces since he was eleven, then twelve, and on and on. Names started to match with the faces, and then events started to link themselves together, involving so many names and faces that he was intimately familiar with. Harry kept screaming.

How cold Azkaban was that winter and how he'd grown his hair out just to keep warm.

The face of a mentor when he calmly looked at Harry, Harry in that scary cage as the ministry condemned him with treachery and spying for the enemy.

The cruel, laughing faces of his best friends—of his family—as they killed Hedwig and threw her corpse at him. Them screaming and laughing as they burned everything he own, that photo album of his parents.

That time in the summer when the order of the phoenix had liberated him from the Dursleys.

And that time when Voldemort killed Cedric, and the whole triwizard tournament.

The screaming shack when he realized Pettigrew betrayed his parents.

How scared he was when he saw the basilask in second year and poor Ginny and fun it was writing in that stupid diary, and how brave he felt after he pulled the sword out of the sorting hat.

How happy he was when he met Ron and Hermion on the train in their first year, how happy he was to have a friend.

And the most painful of all, how goddamn happy he was the first time he stepped into Hogwarts.

The noise vanished and so did the pain in his body.

Harry barely realized. For a moment the only sounds were his heavy breaths as he cried and the hoarse sounds ripped from his throat as he tried to scream. And then there was a voice.

"Did you enjoy that little spell? I spent weeks crafting a memory spell strong enough to make you remember all those painful memories. I know how good you are at repressing them."

Harry knew that voice, he'd memorized it. He'd kept it inside his brain like some sort of parasite. The teen tried to scream, but a hoarse whisper emerged, so he just slammed the ground with his fists.

He suddenly noticed that he was curled on the dirt. Dirt? There was no dirt in the ministry. He looked up to find the night's sky above him, and that the moon was glowing eerily.

He stumbled to his feet and found himself standing on a bizarre mark in the ground. "What the…" Harry whispered. He turned in a circle and saw men in black cloaks and white masks standing around in a perfect circle. They were in a clearing of a deep, dark forest. Harry breathed sharply, they were in the same forest as in his dream. He looked at the ground again and saw he was standing in the pentagram.

"This is where he made Quetzal," Harry said quietly.

"And this is where I will make myself a full Chimera!" Voldemort said loudly so his voice carried. "I will make myself a god!"

_He's going to kill me here_, Harry realized, _he's going to kill me and drink my blood…to make himself a chimera in a man's body._ He opened his mouth, but his throat was too hoarse to form words. He performed a quick soothing charm on his throat. It instantly felt better.

Harry crossed his arms over his chest, Voldemort had a wand, Harry didn't. Voldemort hadn't even bothered to pretend that Harry had a chance. That bastard thought he would just roll over and die.

"Poor thing, he can't even scream." Voldemort laughed, the Death Eaters laughed with him. Harry shuddered and held his arms tighter, "He's too overwhelmed, imagine just remembering what a sorry, miserable life you had. And you did have a pathetic life, Potter. No parents, no family, your friends betrayed you, even Dumbledore betrayed you. You've got nothing! You are nothing!" Voldemort shouted.

The other Death Eaters snickered and jeered in agreement with their master.

_He just expects me to roll over and die. _Harry though, and a slow, burning anger began to overwhelm the fear he felt. _He thinks I'm just gonna give up?! _

"Just relax Potter," Voldemort told him.

Harry realized that Voldemort didn't know, Voldemort though he couldn't do wandless magic. A twisted triumph filled the teen, he had a chance. His was so angry, and so, so ready to kill his enemy, that the teen knew it would show in his eyes. If Voldemort saw his eyes—he would know. So Harry averted his eyes and tried not to look at Voldemort. He knew the taller man was walking towards him, though.

"I'll make sure it doesn't hurt,"

The Death Eaters laughed.

And then suddenly Voldemort was standing in front of him, wearing the body of Tom Marvello Riddle. Voldemort grabbed Harry's wrists and yanked them behind the teen's back. Harry yelped, but kept his eyes averted, and half lidded. His spine curved of its own volition, trying to keep his arms from being dislocated, and Voldemort was so close that Harry felt his chest pressed against the taller man's.

All of the sudden a pair of lips were pressed against his ear and a cold breath made him shiver, "I lied, before. It'll hurt."

Harry whimpered as Voldemort pulled his arms farther back.

"You're rather…attractive when you whimper like that," the lips curled into a smirk, "Maybe I'll keep you—give you someone else blood and keep you…just so I can hear that whimper."

The teen's anger rose exponentially, rose so bad that his cheeks were flushed and his lips parted and harsh breaths were drifting from between those lips.

Voldemort mistook those breaths for fear, "Let me see the fear in your eyes. Make it all perfect."

Harry stubbornly kept his eyes averted.

"Look at me," Voldemort whispered. "Look at me, damn it!" He yanked Harry's arms back harder and the teen curled backwards in pain, exposing a pale throat to Voldemort.

Harry gasped prettily.

"Oh, I'll make it hurt, I promise it'll hurt." Voldemort whispered against Harry's neck.

Then a pair of heavy lashed red eyes looked into his face as Voldemort loosened Harry's arms. "I beat you scream as pretty as you moan…oh, yeah, it's gonna hurt real bad."

Harry's eyes shifted and widened so they bore holes right into Voldemort's red ones. Harry smirked as he watched realization dawn in his doppelganger's eyes. "Yeah," the teen spat, "it will."

With a burst of magic, Harry pushed Voldemort away.

The Dark Lord hissed in fury as the spell shoved him at least ten feet away. "You little bastard!" He drew himself to his full height, it didn't phase Harry.

"You actually thought I would just roll over and die?" Harry laughed cruelly. "You actually thought I would just," the teen waved his arms for emphasis, "let you kill me?"

Voldemort's bitter sneer said yes.

"Well let me promise you something." Harry snarled. "I'm going to kill you."

The Dark Lord laughed, "You don't even have a wand!"

"I don't need one, you do! Expelliarmus!" The name of the spell came easily to Harry's mind. He expected Voldemort to block it, and he did, but it gave Harry a few seconds to send a jolt of magic to hit Voldemort.

The older man howled as it sparked him, but managed to snarl, "Reducto!"

Harry was suddenly hit by a huge silver ball of magic that knocked him off his feet and literally slammed him into the ground. The teen groaned and tried to reorient himself.

Voldemort shouted something Harry didn't catch and suddenly the teen was bound in black ribbons.

"Fuck!" Harry gasped.

The Dark lord stood above him and smirked, "Nice try, Harry."

"Incendio!" the teen spat.

Voldemort had forgotten that his opponent could cast spells even when bound and that deadly mistake made him vulnerable. Suddenly he was consumed by flames. The flames burnt off the ribbons, but only tenderly licked Harry's skin, and the teen stumbled to his feet to find that Voldemort had put out the fire.

Harry grabbed the fire off his body and held it in his hands, "It was a nice try, you son of a bitch!" he yelled, hurling balls of fire at Voldemort. The fire just hit an invisible wall and fizzled out.

The fire disappeared from Harry's hands and his mind raced for a spell.

But he was too late.

He was hit by a curse and suddenly all his limbs were being twisted and he was howling in pain.

"Crucio!" Voldemort screamed again and again and again. His were eyes wide and hungry as he watched Harry writhe in pain.

Harry could think of anything but pain, he couldn't think of a spell, all he could feel or think was pain. It hurt so bad! His eyes snapped open. He looked at Voldemort and managed a pained smirk. Magic raced from his body into Voldemorts, _scream for me,_ Harry thought, harnessing the pain. He poured it all into Voldemort.

The pain dissipated until Harry could finally break free of the curse.

Now Voldemort was writhing, and screaming.

"You suck at screaming!" Harry snarled. He backed away from Voldemort and broke the connection. The second it broke Voldemort hurled Harry away in a burst of magic and got to his feet. "Incendio!" the dark lord gasped and balls of fire were now flying at Harry.

The teen scrambled to avoid them, he hurled himself to the floor and rolled. Another one flew at his face and he scrambled to his feet only for another one to singe his leg. Harry screamed, but ignored the pain and started to run. His body was protesting, it was still exhausted from the Crucatious curse.

"Aguamenti!" Harry gasped, pointing at Voldemort

Voldemort was doused by a jet of water that pounded into him mercilessly until Harry finally dropped his arm with a gasp. He could barely lift his arm it hurt so bad! Voldemort crumpled to the ground, gagging and trying to recover his breath.

For a moment they both breathed heavily.

Then Voldemort pointed his wand and Harry and snarled a blasting charm. Harry's body was shoved into the air and then into the ground, beating him like a rag doll until it stopped and Harry fell limply to the ground. His arm was hanging at a bizarre, unnatural angle. It was dislocated. Harry cursed as he tried to get to his knees. He looked up to see Voldemort walked shakily towards him.

"**Impedimenta," Harry whispered weakly, hoping the hindrance spell would hold Voldemort off. It did. Voldemort seemed to walking though clear jelly as he came towards Harry. The teen used the time to attempt to pop his shoulder back into its socket. He winced and grabbed the arm and tried to blindly align it with where the socket should be—and shoved. He screamed and then fell to the ground, panting with tears running down his face. He rotated the arm and crying quietly got to his knees. **

**"Relashio!" Harry shouted at Voldemort. **

**The older man howled as tiny sparks danced on his skin and a jet of heat enveloped him. "**Sectumsempra!"

Immediately angry red cuts erupted on Harry's body. The teen howled and snarled at the same time as Voldemort,

"Crucio!"

Dual green beams pushed at each other, Harry shoved all his energy into the curse. He was going to kill Voldemort! He had to! But Harry's body gave in and the curse hit him so hard it knocked him onto his back and the pain started all over again.

Harry screamed and sobbed as it happened again.

"Heh, I got you." Voldemort panted. "You put up a fight," He laughed weakly, "I'll give you that, but you're all mine now."

"No!" Harry managed to yell.

"Yes! Crucio!"

Harry screamed louder. He sent a last bolt of magic into Voldemort, pouring his pain into the Dark Lord, once again. But Harry was weak and the curse wasn't as strong as before. Voldemort gritted his teeth and despite the pain, resisted the effects of the spell.

"Imperio." He snarled.

The pain stopped and for a brief moment Harry was so relieved, he forgot the fact that was now in Voldemort's power.

"Come to me," Voldemort said in a weary voice.

And Harry, despite himself got to his feet, legs protesting and head swimming and walked over to Voldemort. He tried to stop himself, he took a step and paused. His mind felt like it was breaking as he tried to resist the spell. "No!" he howled, hurling himself to the floor. But his whole body screamed in pain, tugging at brain.

"Come, now!"

Harry's body got to it's feet once again and he started walking. He stood in front of Voldemort, head rolling and his vision fading in and out. His chest ached with every breath he heaved. He needed more air, but it hurt too much to breath.

"Look at me."

The teen obeyed.

Voldemort roughly grabbed Harry's face in his hands and yanked him closer by the chin. Harry gasped and fell into Voldemort's body. And even though his mind found the body repulsive and every cell protested, it felt fantastic to have something to lean on. Everything hurt.

"You fought well," Voldemort said hoarsely. He smiled almost dizzily and yelled, "He was brilliant, wasn't he?!"

The Death Eaters hesitantly shouted their agreement.

"Yes, yes, you pretty, little thing." The older man laughed, "It was an effort worthy of the history books!"

Harry's eyes watered as the words sunk in. He'd lost. His chest heaved and tears streamed fresh down his face. He'd lost. He could barely breath, but he still needed to cry and he almost couldn't.

"Now, don't cry, shush," Voldemort whispered intimately. The hand grasping Harry's face softened and long fingers traced Harry's lips and paused at the blood sluggishly streaming from Harry's lip and mouth. The dark lord brought his fingers to his mouth and licked the blood off, "So sweet," he whispered, looking lustily into Harry's eyes, "All of it will be mine soon."

The teen's rage rose again and he gasped, he shoved his magic at Voldemort. The attempt was so weak that Voldemort stumbled backwards and Harry instead fell to the ground, free from the imperius.

Voldemort howled in rage and slammed his foot down on Harry's left hand.

Harry screamed and then whimpered, cradling the damaged hand to his chest.

"You little shit!" Voldemort shouted, "Obey me! Why won't you obey me! Imperius!"

The teen whimpered as his mind was once again taken over.

"Stand up!"

Harry did.

"Give me your hand." Voldemort hissed with a wicked grin. Harry offered Voldemort the broken hand in tears. "I shattered most of the bones," The Dark Lord said. Then without warning he grabbed a finger and pulled as hard as he could. Pain shot through Harry's arm and body and he screamed and sobbed. Voldemort pulled until the skin started to tear and then he stopped. The finger, which was now a skin sack containing what should be a finger, fell limply, the ligaments and bones inside connected only by the skin of his hand.

Harry saw it and howled louder, his breath quickened and he started to hyperventilate. And then the world went dark.

"No!" Voldemort screamed, "Stay awake! Watch!"

And Harry did. He watched as Voldemort destroyed all five digits on his ruined left hand.

When it was over Harry was begging inarticulately, whimpers and soundless pleas just escaped from his lips.

"Now, tell me I'm your master." Voldemort commanded.

"Yes, master." Harry gasped. The imperious curse forced the words out of his mouth, but Harry was almost positive that he would've told Voldemort just about anything by then to make the pain stop.

"Show me."

Harry looked up at Voldemort in confusion, eyes foggy and feverish. Voldemort smirked and gently tugged at Harry's lower lip. He hand tenderly cupped Harry's cheek and Harry leaned into the caress, hoping, praying Voldemort would take pity on him—hoping he'd make the pain stop. The hand curled into Harry's hair and suddenly shoved Harry's downwards.

The teen hit the ground hard, he hadn't even tried to brace himself for the impact. His knees screamed and he swayed dizzily, but the imperius curse wouldn't let him pass out into sweet, dark oblivion.

His face was in line with Voldemort's crotch, the second the teen realized he gasped and looked up at Voldemort pleadingly.

The Death Eaters jeered and they cheered, they fucking cheered.

Harry tried to shake his head, but he could only sway pathetically. He wanted to be angry, but he couldn't move, he could barely think. Everything hurt so bad.

"I won't order you to do it," Voldemort smirked, "I'll let you."

Harry cried and opened his mouth, gasping wordlessly for him to stop.

"Or I'll cut them off," Voldemort looked to Harry's ruined fingers.

The teen shook his head and cried, he looked to the Death Eaters and heard their cat-calls and jeers and squeezed his eyes shut.

Voldemort hissed wordlessly in anger. "I could make you! Oh but it'll be much sweeter this way."

He grabbed Harry's ruined left hand and the teen sobbed in pain.

And then he slipped one of his nails under Harry's. The teen shrieked and looked up pleadingly at Voldemort. But the Dark Lord smirked and then yanked upwards, slowly, so painfully slow. "Watch," He told Harry. And the teen watched as his finger nail was slowly peeled off. He screamed, and cried and begged Voldemort to stop. But the Dark Lord didn't until the nail was completely removed. He threw it to the ground and looked almost lovingly down at Harry. "Will you do it now."

Harry sobbed and glanced at back Voldemort's groin, everything hurt, everything burned, his brain felt like it was bleeding, but he shook his head.

Voldemort started on the next nail and told him to watch.

A few minutes later Harry's exposed nail-beds were bleeding sluggishly and Voldemort asked him once again. Harry couldn't physically sob anymore, he couldn't even whimper and plead, just cry and jerk his head to say no.

"Crucio."

It wasn't as strong as the curses before it, Harry's body didn't even writhe. He stayed on his knees and his body twitched, painfully and uncontrollably. Harry gasped and cried and doubled over in pain before he finally whispered, "please?"

Voldemort grabbed his hair and yanked Harry's head upwards.

"You gonna do it?"

Harry nodded weakly, little wet tears falling down his cheeks.

He laughed and forcefully shoved the teens face into his crotch again. "Then get to it, bitch!"

The Death Eaters hooted louder and the cat-calls increased.

The teen squeezed his eyes shut and licked the seam of his pants.

Harry raised Voldemort's shirt with his nose and licked the pale, exposed skin with gentle flicks of his tongue.

And then he noticed something. The curse was lessened somehow, probably cause he was distracted, Harry realized in disgust. He started to work on the fly to the older man's pants while he found he could still move his still undamaged right hand. He remembered the knife in his pocket. He was close enough to use it. Harry slipped his hand into his pocket and it curled around the little blade. He ignored the pain as the sharp blade dug into the skin of his palm.

The fly was open and Harry realized there was no underwear underneath.

He'd planned this all long.

Harry whimpered and shook his head and tried to sob but every time he moved his ribcage it protested violently.

"Don't stop now, kitten," Voldemort said huskily, "or I might really have to hurt you."

The teen opened his mouth wide and gently drew the organ out of Voldemort's pants and covered it in his mouth. He wanted to vomit, he wanted to scream. But he didn't. Instead and sucked hard and at the same time withdrew the knife from his pocket and stabbed it into Voldemort's side.

The Dark Lord stumbled backwards and looked at Harry in shock. "You," He whispered, "Chimera-blood-I-I-can't die!"

Harry looked at the knife in his hand and smirked cruelly. "Oh yes, you can," Remembering how the knife had cut his palm. "Only a chimera can kill a chimera," Harry showed Voldemort his bloody palm.

The teen tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't move. Instead he lurched forward and stabbed Voldemort in the foot. Harry laughed harshly, bubbles of blood in his open mouth and dripping down in lips. He crawled forward and sliced through the Dark Lord's heels, laughing at Voldemort's gasps and howls of pain.

The Death Eaters were trying to get through into the pentagram, but they couldn't.

Now that Chimera blood had been spilt, the circle was closed.

Harry laughed uncontrollably.

He crawled up Voldemorts chest and straddled him, "I win!" he giggled. "I win!" He cried as he laughed. He looked at Voldemort's neck and his eyes widened. Suddenly the teen lurched down and bit his neck. Voldemort screamed as Harry tore through skin and into Voldemort's artery. Blood spouted from the Dark Lord neck and Harry lapped it like an eager kitten.

The teen looked at his hand and screamed in pain as he felt the nerves and ligaments re-knitting themselves. But the nails were growing back quickly. Harry smiled, "Thank god," He whispered. He'd need more blood to re-grow the bones, so he prepared to drink more. But then he paused.

He looked down at Voldemort's eyes and they danced wildly in shock and pain.

Harry was no better then him. But he could be. If he stopped, then maybe he'd be just a little bit better. He looked despairingly at his hand, his ruined hand and he could still feel the nauseating taste of Voldemort's cock in his mouth.

The teen screamed and plunged the knife into Voldemort's chest, stabbing and stabbing until the blood stoped gushing from the wounds and started to trickle pathetically. "Don't you fucking die!" Harry screamed. "I'm not done yet!"

Then when Voldemort's eyes rolled back in his skull, Harry sobbed and started to pound his skull into the dirt.

And he pounded until all he felt beneath his fists were bloody bits of brain and bone.

Harry rolled off Voldemort's corpse and looked up into the night sky.

He laughed and cried, and then laughed and then he cried some more. He didn't know how long he laid there, just watching the sky, finally he whispered, "Did I do good?" He laughed bitterly.

He felt disgusted with himself. He killed Voldemort, but it didn't satisfy him. He wanted to plunge the blade into his heart and stand majestically, watching him die and say something meaningful and memorable.

All he'd done distract him.

Harry cried again.

It was all over.

And Harry didn't want it to be, he felt hollow inside. He hadn't wanted it to be like that, he didn't want to beg Voldemort for mercy, he called him master! Harry started screaming and crying all over again, until finally he couldn't scream. He was too tired to even move. So he just cried.

The sky started to lighten and Harry lay there until the sun started to light up the sky. He watched soft, purple clouds start to roll onto the horizon and the sky turn an appealing shade of pink. The sun itself was a bright, red. It looked so pretty.

Harry took the watch out of his pocket, "Five a.m.?" He mused aloud. He looked over at the bloody corpse beside him and said, "Wow, five a.m. I guess I'm alive." He laughed again and then he told the watch. "Take me back to the ministry."

White light bloomed around him and the last thing Harry saw was the red sun against the pink sky and the soft, cotton candy clouds. The light blinded him briefly, before it vanished.

Harry found himself standing a huge pile of rubble.

"I guess all went well," He told himself, he smiled, he didn't feel sad anymore, jut numb, numb and cold and his face would only smile. But his eyes were cold, haunted**—**they looked dead.

Standing at the perimeter of the rubble were Aurors, they rushed him, asking questions. Harry didn't hear them. He handed one of them the watch and said, "I killed Voldemort, tell the watch to take you to where he is. It'll do it."

The aurors watched in confusion as Harry stumbled off, but they did tell the watch and a small clump of them vanished in a soft flare of light.

Harry knew exactly where he was going.

He saw Draco standing near a frightened Remus, an angry Snape, and an exhausted looking Lucius. Draco was yelling at Rhapsody for some reason and he didn't see Harry stumbling towards them.

The Gryffindor came up behind Draco, threw his arms around Draco's shoulders and giggled, "Hi."

"Harry!" Draco gasped. He spun around and hugged the smaller teen tightly, "Oh god, are you alright?" Harry didn't say anything at first. His brain actually stopped and the world around him stopped.

Alright?

What was alright?

Was he alright?

And then Remus gasped, "Oh god Harry, what happened to your hand?" Harry looked at it. The nails had partially grown bad, but the beds were still bleeding, bags of finger shaped skin seemed to hang, filled with bone fragments, from his shattered palm.

Alright?

Harry started to laugh, he laughed uncontrollably to the horror of the family around him. And then the laughs subsided and turned into sobs, overwhelming, wracking sobs that pulled Harry to his knees.

He saw Draco's hip right in front of his face and screamed.

Harry fell limply onto the ground and watched as a horrified and confused Draco took a step away from him. Harry rolled onto his back and screamed and cried more until he looked up and saw a pale blue sky blooming above him.

A blue sky—a real blue sky.

Tears streamed down his cheeks.

Then he started to laugh again, and he didn't stop.

A/N: jez. That was intense. Epilogue up tomorrow morning.


	18. Chapter 18

The first month, Harry was in a magically induced coma. The doctors said he would be in too much pain if he was conscious. They spent the first week focused on his left hand. They re-grew the bones, but they had to re-grow ligaments and tendons too. His nervous system was shot all though his left arm too. The second week, they operated. His knee caps had shifted out of place, he had multiple rib fractures, punctured lungs, his spine was twisted and they didn't think he'd be able to walk right again. The third week, he started bleeding internally, they couldn't find where. They found the bleed in his heart the fourth week.

The second month, Harry stayed slept. The doctors told tried to fix his spine for the first week. The second week, they tried some more. Then they gave up and told his family that he needed to sleep. And as he slept bones re-grew, nerves re-knit themselves, his ligaments and tendons healed, his organs healed and his heart got stronger.

The third month they woke Harry up. The first week, he didn't really talk much. He didn't even want to see anyone. The second week, his family tried to see him. Harry didn't want them too, he would hide under the sheet, scream, yell, cry, he'd do anything to make them go away. The third week, Lucius finally announced they were getting the best damn shrink in all of bloody London to make him better. The fourth week, the shrink told them Harry was incurably disturbed. Draco hit him.

The fourth month Harry didn't get any better. The first week, his family looked around for a therapist who could help him. The second week they finally found one, a forty-something year old guy with a warm heart and cheery eyes named Tristan Ross. The third week, Ross talked to Harry, Harry didn't talk back much. The fourth week Ross told them it would take time.

In the fifth month time passed. The first week, Harry talked back, but still refused to see his family. Then second week passed, as did the third, Harry still didn't tell Ross exactly what happened in the clearing that night. The fourth week, Draco got angry and told Ross that they'd given him time and Harry wasn't any better.

The sixth month, things got better. The first week, Harry finally broke down and told Ross what happened. The second week, Harry cried. The third week, Harry started a smile more often and the old Harry started to shine though. The fourth week, Harry asked to see Draco.

6 months later

"Draco can we go ride the Ferris Wheel?" Harry asked with a huge grin. He and Draco were strolling though London and Harry had just spotted the huge wheel.

"Jesus, Harry, I already told you! It's way better at night!" Draco teased admonishingly.

"Can we please?" Harry asked, and his eyes lost the youthful glitter they held just a moment ago. Harry adopted an expression we was wearing more and more lately, a strained, half-happy smile.

Draco gave in, he was rewarded with a pair of shiny green eyes and a smile. He wanted to wrap his arm around Harry's shoulder and just kiss him, but Harry hadn't responded well to touch since that night. Remus tried to hold his hand once during the third month and Harry flipped out. "Yeah, sure…let's go."

The Ferris Wheel was absolutely empty, but just to be safe, Draco slipped the guy a hundred dollar bill and told him stop the wheel for ten minutes when their car reached the top.

He and Harry climbed into one of the little cabins. Draco was mildly disappointed when Harry sat on the opposite bench. "Thanks, Draco." He draped his elbows on the window and rested his head on them, looking absolutely beautiful, wearing that strain smile.

"For what?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged, "For being here, even though I've been so difficult about it."

"You don't have to thank me, I lov-I'm your friend. Of course I'm going to be here with you." The blonde said quickly. "I know what happened was really hard on you."

"Hard?" Harry smirked, his eyes looked empty though—sad, even. "Hard would be if I lost all my money. Hard is not being able to read. Hard is something that you fix. This doesn't fix."

"Time heals everything." Draco said quietly.

"Nah, not this kinda stuff, time passes, and it makes things stop stinging. But this kinda thing, it's always there. Time makes it stop stinging, but I'll never forget it. I'll never get fixed."

Draco shrugged and started out the opposite window. "You don't need to be." Harry turned so he could see the blonde.

"Oh really?" The smaller teen ventured, looking at Draco with a sad smile.

"You fix something that broke. You didn't break. Your life changed—you changed—maybe for better, maybe for the worse, but that's not the point. Your life changed and it was scary, but you should know," Draco looked right at Harry and for a moment he kind of reminded Harry of someone who told him something very similar, "We love you, no matter how your life changes you. We'll be with you every step of the way."

Harry smiled, a real, soft smile—and there was no sad in it. "I love you too."

Suddenly the Ferris Wheel jerked to a stop.

Harry looked up at the blue sky and sighed, "It's so pretty, isn't it?"

"It's beautiful," Draco murmured, his eyes fixed on Harry.

"I'm happy, I'm glad I'm alive."

"We are too."

The smaller teen grinned at Draco, "We should date."

"What?" Draco asked.

"Ya know, go on a date?"

"I'm familiar with the concept," The blonde said sarcastically, "But…why?"

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Well, I can't go around calling you my boyfriend if I've never been on a date with you."

Draco grinned at him, "Well, I guess I'll have to check my schedule, but I'm free now…"

"Now sounds perfect."

The End

A/N: and that's it, shows over. Well I hope you guys liked it, please review and tell me what you thought!

Also I'm actually going to start a new fic relatively soon, starring Harry and Draco as doctors, so if that floats your boat lookout for it.


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